When one hear a comment or question from
An insensitive . Or the “all talk no results” , Or seems like a ‘know it all’ and dishes out useless ideas , Or proclaim they are ‘detail & perfectionist’ yet provides substandard work , Or just plain old irritating
Just walk away, Just ignore, Just name shame them as Ignoramus (unfortunately does not goes extinct like the Ornithomimus)
Avoid taking advice from someone who gives advice for a living unless there is a penalty for the advice
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (excerpt from Skin in the Game)
Wow.. something for me at age 49 to learn. So, are all management consultants frauds? They give advice without any penalty for failures. Yet all small businesses need some help from the supposed knowledgeable ones.
Small business owners lack resources from capital, time, and knowledge to grow big, and it is true more often than not – business consultants that were hired did not give the type of results as promised and there is not monetary penalty.
Where am I going with all this? Just after many coaching classes, it is true.
Advice is really overrated. Nothing beats you doing the hard work, fail and learn the lesson because there is no 1 size or 1 solution for every type of problem.
Three questions to be put to ourselves before speaking evil of any man:
“First, is it true? Second, is it kind? Third, is it necessary?”
Lots of people say it is from Buddha but someone says it is a fake Buddha quote. One say from Poynder’s Literary Extracts), and that quotation itself is was from a Reverend Mr. Stewart.
But it is widely accepted that the thought or originate influence would be from Buddha’s teachings.
As Buddha’s guidelines for speech were more like five –
That speech should be true, kind, helpful, conducive to harmony, and spoken at the right time.
However old it this is, I think it is timeless teaching.
I am not sure if it is age (most likely it is), but I can’t help but agree with the song “Que Sera Sera” that “whatever will be will be, the future’s not ours to see”.
It is the oddest time of the century. The world is still continuing to live with the frequent lock downs and who would have thought a virus that cannot be seen by our naked eye just took the world to its knees in a matter of months. All the money, knowledge & technology in the world just could not stop it.
As I think back before this unfortunate incident, there are so many ‘lucky’ incidences like, how we decide to come Perth just 6 months before the shut down or how Mike & Relm just narrowly missed the 1 week border shut down when they went back home for mother’s big birthday event. And us celebrating & organising a big 80th birthday for Papa vs 81 – if we had delayed it, we most likely won’t have any celebration for the next 3 years!
I could only count the amount of blessings that I have experienced in my past 1 year. Of course there are some ‘unlucky’ ones like me getting laid off at a new job due to the business massive slow down, but on hindsight – I must say, I didn’t like the company’s policies or culture much – people were expected to work long hours (if not on hourly wage awards) and response to rude and demanding customers (stressful lawyers) within 15mins 24/ 7 . And yet they had no cash put away for 6 months to withstand 1 month of 80% drop in revenue to support the staff that they demand the ‘highest’ commitment. I would say the Universe just wants me get the hell out of there!
So yes… whatever will be will be. The universe will conspire to make your life good for your if you would just surrender to it. And that said – you will face what you face, do what you can then continue to work on it. And all will be well.
“Circumstances do not determine your state of being.
Your state of being determines your circumstances.”
― Bashar
I noticed a lot of small business owners like to say ‘we are not corporate so we don’t manage our projects like them’. This they say to the clients, how “smart” right? It is as described as Bashar quoted above – they have determine their circumstances already in their mind.
Yes, our business is small, only 20 of us but that should not be the reason that we shouldn’t run the business like “corporates”. If we have the mentality that because we are small so we therefore will provide services like one – then I guess we will never be able to scale. There are so many ‘corporates’ best practices that small businesses can use and usually so applicable which is almost always the reason small businesses are able to thrive & grow.
Even if I were to run a one-man business, I sure will try my darnest to provide by service like a 100-man business! So much free information out there in the www, I learn so much by just reading those information.
My point is – let’s ACT like who we want to be not act based on our circumstances because I want to play in the infinite game & not a finite game in the business world.
The latest top skills most company looked for as published by World Economic Forum (see below picture)
I agree totally because even if I am looking for a candidate : this is what I would look for. As for people looking for a job – how do we even ‘showcase’ these abilities in a ‘not more than 2 page’ resume that’s being scanned through by the ATS (Application Tracking System)? Of course, we just need to put in these ‘keywords’ in the resume so ATS will select your resume & you then get tested on either in logical /programming/math tests or characteristics test. More often than not (at least what I have went through in my lifetime) ; aptitude tests are done first vs character. And it is precisely that 7 skills out of the 10 skills just slipped through these ‘tests’.
I remember I didn’t do well in one of my 1st job of an MNC (I probably just borderline passed) and I was granted an interview followed by another 2 interviews conducted by real humans & leaders. Yes I am not the ‘top’ in the aptitude test on 50 questions on math / algebra / english tests ; but I sure did performed by role well enough to get increment every 10 months & remained the top candidate (top band) among my peers. I am guessing I have displayed at least 5 of these top skills. {note: this is 20 odd years ago where ATS & smart phones have not existed}
Perhaps the companies that harps on these top skills need to relook at their hiring strategy. While I understand the world is so much more complex (because we made it so!) Verses we send the amount of ‘resumes’ with the keywords; how about just send the link for the skills tests for those top skills, streamline the ones that ‘fit’ the ideal profile THEN ask chosen applicant/s to send in their resume (base on HOW they would love to showcase their past achievements and what they contribute) before one does a final human interview?
Why I say this is better?
1) You streamline exactly to what you want first not just applicants putting in the ‘keywords’ in the resume to get the ‘hits’ with the ATS
2) Hirer save time from scanning through the “ATS” sorted resumes
3) The resume would probably be more genuine
4) The applicant can show the real words they can describe their work or themselves vs the ‘keywords’ needed for ATS!
How’s that as my “creativity, originality, critical thinking” skill ? 😀
It is amazing what time can buy for us human if we do not squander them away carelessly. I am obviously human and obviously guilty of squandering time when I am not feeling motivated or need to ‘run’ away from the reality (which seems depressing to me at times).
Anyway.. I digress, as I was saying, thankfully I do (from time to time) make use of the precious time for some mindful self development.
So, was reading a book on ‘How to be everything’ – basically suitable for people like me who is still looking for ‘purpose’ in life or in the author’s own words ” guide for those who “STILL” don’t know what they want to be when they grow up”. Now now, I am 45 afterall, I am not saying I am still staying with my parents, I think I managed my life decently so far – debt free, acheived my 20year goals, in a healthy and still work in progress relationship, a loving child, some income of sort and plenty of soft skills learnt from my 4 decades of living. I decided to pick this book up is just because I felt I haven’t found what I am truly passionate about, truly excited about that I am willing to give up my sleep & my precious time up for them.
I like how the author uses the dreaded “M” word (money). Many self help books seem to talk a lot of self love yadda yadda yadda, but really – let’s be realistic here, without money, its hard to take care of oneself properly.
Money, meaning and motivation are inherently link, whether you like it or not. Sometimes we try to de-link money from meaning but we are not being honest here. We need money to fund our meaning and motivation. If I have no money now, I don’t think I would even be reading the book! I would probably be trying looking for a job every minute vs searching what ‘I truly’ love to do.
My key takeaway from this book its ok to have array of projects, some are profitable & some aren’t. There are no rules about whether the activity is meaningul or not, but we usually know it when we feel it. We just need to figure out our WHYs not what the activites were but WHY we enjoyed them.
Yes.. WHY? When we do something and you can connect them to the Why? Things do just drop into it’s place.
Wow! I am now 45 today. I tried really hard to think of ‘something’ I want and I couldn’t. So instead, I am going to celebrate the day with 45 events, things, people, friends, work and everything I am grateful for.
Now I know why I really couldn’t think of what I want
I am not extremely trusting by nature but I am also not very sceptical by nature, however because I was motivated by laziness, I decided that I can try to just take the leap of faith in basic mankind’s honesty.
Scenario:
2nd hand fridge posted in FB marketplace. 2 pictures. Not much details such as age or any small defects. Priced at $180. Paid 1 day before pick up (guy request for few more days of use). Its located about 12km away (20mins drive).
Mover needed; found at same marketplace, $50
Decision: I didn’t want to waste my time driving to and fro to just check condition of fridge cos seller confirmed it is working!
Mover confirmed they can pick up and send to my home.
So, I decided that I should just trust both party to be honest to deliver what they have promised.
Result: Mover was on time and good delivered without any problems. Friendly and helpful too! Fridge is working well and met my expectations
I would say that it’s a win for everyone and I have that extra bonus : the good feeling that we can trust each other even strangers.
Who is the first person you want to thank?
Who is the first person you want to apologize to?
When is scariest moment in your life?
When is your best luck in your life?
musings manic 