Friday, 31 July 2009
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
"Superficial goals lead to superficial results."- Atilla the Hun
"Doing less meaningless work, so that you can focus on things of greater personal importance, is NOT laziness. This is hard to accept, because our culture tends to reward personal sacrifice instead of personal productivity. Few people choose to (or are able to) measure the results of their actions and thus measure their contribution in time."
-Tim Feriss, The 4 Hour Work Week
Sunday, 26 July 2009
Time's [not] Up from Tim Chiou on Vimeo.
Here's the winner of the 72 Hour Film Shootout, an excellent short film that reminds us of how you always have time to do what it is you want to do. Of course, you still have to focus your efforts and spend your time wisely.Every person in his or her late 20's always laments that when 30 is around the corner your dreams will supposedly end. But for myself, things really didn't start happening for me until I was in my thirties. Everything that I wanted to happen started happening within the last ten years. In your 30's, your career is solid, your finances are solid, you've found the love of your life and as result you start a family around this time period. Plus you've got disposable income to buy all the things you want and to travel.
In your 20's you may have some lofty goals, but frankly at that age you don't know jack shit about the world. That's why in your 20's it's about acquiring life experiences. Good times with friends, meeting new people, trying new things. Whereas your 20's are about experiences, your 30's are about accomplishments. That's why everybody who turns 30 looks back and asks, "What did I accomplish?"
I remember that in my 20's, I had a friend who always had some crazy scheme he wanted me to join him on. Long before Match.com or E-Harmony came on the scene, he launched a dating site when the Internet was still in its infancy. He always wanted to start a business. He always talked about creating a short film and using that film as a springboard to jump into the film industry.
The funny thing is he was always looking for me to be a "partner" in these projects that he came up with, because it was too risky and too much work for him to handle alone. In a sense, he wanted me to be his assistant to help him achieve his dreams.
The problem is you can't wait for other people to start a project. If you do, then you will never achieve anything, because you're using someone else as a crutch or as an excuse as to why you're not making progress. You got to have some emotional resiliency where you say, "I don't care what other people say. I'm going to do this, and I'll figure out how to do it along the way."
Don't rely on your family, friends or even your spouse or partner to be supportive. You have to rely on yourself. Don't get me wrong. Your loved ones want the best for you, but they want you to get there by avoiding risk. But for you to be truly successful in whatever you do, you got to focus on the goal, not the risks.
I don't do a lot of rock climbing, but one time I went through a ropes course with a lot of climbing obstacles. There was one physical challenge where you had to climb to the top of a telephone pole, stand straight up on the top of this pole, then jump off and grab a trapeze suspended aproximately 5-6 feet away. You either successfully grabbed the trapeze and floated down to the ground or you would miss the bar and fall 30 feet to the ground (on belay, of course).
I successfully completed the course, because I operated on this game plan: don't look down and focus on your end goal (reaching the top). I never looked down, because if I did, then I would've gotten vertigo and fallen off or been paralyzed with fear (which happened to one guy). I always kept an eye on the top, because that was where I had to be.
A key to success is to gradually expand your goals and build on each success that you have. When I decided to be a writer in my spare time, success to me in the beginning was just completing an article and getting it on the internet. Then eventually it was to get paid for an article. Then it was to publish a book. Then it was to market the book and actually money from my passion.
I achieved all of the above many times over. It's given me a nice side income, a little extra cash every month for trips and nice dinners with the wife. Each time I published an article, I leveraged it for a greater opportunity. Editors of high traffic sites noticed my articles on low traffic sites and contacted me to write for them. Then I leveraged my online articles to become a writer for print magazines that pay well.
So the bottom line? Remember:
1) Build on your success
2) Focus on the goal, not the obstacles
3) Don't rely on others to jumpstart your dreams. Just go out there and do it.
4) You always have time, but you have to start now.
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Sunday, 19 July 2009
Asian Americans have a unique psychology that is a result of their transcultural upbringing. We've learned to infuse the best aspects of both Western culture and Asian culture to discard the emotional baggage from both cultures. If you want to think and act like an Alpha Asian, then operate with these principles:
1) Avoid passive-aggressive behavior. I hate to say this, but Asians tend to be very passive-aggressive. Culturally, we've learned not to be directly confrontational, because a direct confrontation with someone of higher status, power or authority could have painful and even deadly repercussions.
But in Western society, passive-aggressive behavior is seen as weak and untrustworthy. Although you see a lot of passive-agressive backstabbing behavior in American reality shows like "Big Brother." In general, however, passive-aggressiveness shows that you were too slow and too timid to respond to transgressions with enough strength and quickness. Be direct when you can, and avoid passive-aggressive behavior.
2) You MUST defend yourself and your kind. In "The Apprentice," Donald Trump would always fire the guy or gal who didn't speak up for him or herself in the boardroom. Trump's reasoning is "Why the hell should I hire someone to defend my interests, if this person cannot even defend himself?"
When you or your family or friends are attacked, you must defend yourself. If you do not defend yourself, your loved ones or your ethnic group, then no one respects you, your loved ones or your ethnic group. Why should they respect you if you don't even respect yourself?
Asians and non-Asians have very different responses to being bullied. Here's a scenario that's been played out at a playground or two: If an Asian boy were bullied at school by a non-Asian boy, then the Asian kid tends to shut down and not respond. He tends not to give any verbal or bodily cues that he's going to defend himself. In his mind he's thinking, "I'm not giving you any trouble, so back off."
In response, the non-Asian kid sees the lack of defensive cues as weak and proceeds to pick on him some more. Even though the anger is escalating within the Asian kid, he does not show any signs of this anger until the very last minute. By then the Asian kid goes all out and starts pummeling the other, who is caught completely by surprise. Afterwards, the two shake hands and become friends.
Sound familiar? Nip bad behavior in the bud and defend yourself immediately.
3) Actions speak louder than words. Americans and certain European groups tend to talk a lot about what they supposedly are, what they've supposedly done and what they supposedly will do. Asians see such behavior as bragging and consider it arrogant. For Asians, actions speak louder than words. Who we are should be fucking apparent.
Humans are hardwired to detect deception, because detection of deception is vital to survival. Nobody gives a fuck what you say you are or what you say you've done. Did you do what you were supposed to do or not? People are constantly comparing your actions with your words, and if the two don't match, then everyone knows that you're full of shit.
So don't be a barking chihuahua. Do, don't talk.
4) Don't devalue yourself. Asians are notorious for being Uncle Toms. They have this awful habit of putting themselves down or putting other Asians down. I cannot stand people who constantly refer to their ethnicity or somebody else's ethnicity. If someone mentions my race and there's no justifiable context for mentioning it, then it means this person is uncomfortable with me being Asian, so much so that he or she mentions it without any prompting.
If you're Asian and you refer to your Asian heritage without any conversational reference, then YOU have a problem with your ethnicity. Non-Asians crack enough jokes about Asians already, so don't encourage that shit by cracking racist self-deprecating jokes in front of them.
Anyway, I've fulfilled my daily quota of cuss words. Practice these principles daily and don't get discouraged if you can't follow them a 100% of the time. Just focus on success and build on it when you can.
1) Avoid passive-aggressive behavior. I hate to say this, but Asians tend to be very passive-aggressive. Culturally, we've learned not to be directly confrontational, because a direct confrontation with someone of higher status, power or authority could have painful and even deadly repercussions.
But in Western society, passive-aggressive behavior is seen as weak and untrustworthy. Although you see a lot of passive-agressive backstabbing behavior in American reality shows like "Big Brother." In general, however, passive-aggressiveness shows that you were too slow and too timid to respond to transgressions with enough strength and quickness. Be direct when you can, and avoid passive-aggressive behavior.
2) You MUST defend yourself and your kind. In "The Apprentice," Donald Trump would always fire the guy or gal who didn't speak up for him or herself in the boardroom. Trump's reasoning is "Why the hell should I hire someone to defend my interests, if this person cannot even defend himself?"
When you or your family or friends are attacked, you must defend yourself. If you do not defend yourself, your loved ones or your ethnic group, then no one respects you, your loved ones or your ethnic group. Why should they respect you if you don't even respect yourself?
Asians and non-Asians have very different responses to being bullied. Here's a scenario that's been played out at a playground or two: If an Asian boy were bullied at school by a non-Asian boy, then the Asian kid tends to shut down and not respond. He tends not to give any verbal or bodily cues that he's going to defend himself. In his mind he's thinking, "I'm not giving you any trouble, so back off."
In response, the non-Asian kid sees the lack of defensive cues as weak and proceeds to pick on him some more. Even though the anger is escalating within the Asian kid, he does not show any signs of this anger until the very last minute. By then the Asian kid goes all out and starts pummeling the other, who is caught completely by surprise. Afterwards, the two shake hands and become friends.
Sound familiar? Nip bad behavior in the bud and defend yourself immediately.
3) Actions speak louder than words. Americans and certain European groups tend to talk a lot about what they supposedly are, what they've supposedly done and what they supposedly will do. Asians see such behavior as bragging and consider it arrogant. For Asians, actions speak louder than words. Who we are should be fucking apparent.
Humans are hardwired to detect deception, because detection of deception is vital to survival. Nobody gives a fuck what you say you are or what you say you've done. Did you do what you were supposed to do or not? People are constantly comparing your actions with your words, and if the two don't match, then everyone knows that you're full of shit.
So don't be a barking chihuahua. Do, don't talk.
4) Don't devalue yourself. Asians are notorious for being Uncle Toms. They have this awful habit of putting themselves down or putting other Asians down. I cannot stand people who constantly refer to their ethnicity or somebody else's ethnicity. If someone mentions my race and there's no justifiable context for mentioning it, then it means this person is uncomfortable with me being Asian, so much so that he or she mentions it without any prompting.
If you're Asian and you refer to your Asian heritage without any conversational reference, then YOU have a problem with your ethnicity. Non-Asians crack enough jokes about Asians already, so don't encourage that shit by cracking racist self-deprecating jokes in front of them.
Anyway, I've fulfilled my daily quota of cuss words. Practice these principles daily and don't get discouraged if you can't follow them a 100% of the time. Just focus on success and build on it when you can.
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Friday, 10 July 2009
Monday, 6 July 2009
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Mike Kim | ||||
| ||||
Here's a fascinating interview with Mike Kim on his involvement in getting North Koreans defectors out of the country. Very relevant stuff given the current situation in Korea with the North's missile launches.
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