This blog is created to honour the end of my Nationals Inter-School Canoe Championship 2009 and the end of a Canoeist Career in Junior College.
The 1st few post will be dedicated towards the setting up of this blog and will convey my thoughts and feeling over the 4 days event to honour the Sports
which I really believe in, fought for, bleed for and gave my life to.
Lectures from 7 Habits
Saturday, April 28, 2012 @ 10:00 PM
"Too many vacations that last too long, too many movies, too much TV, too much video game playing -- too much undisciplined leisure time in which a person continually takes the course of least resistance -- gradually wastes a life. It ensures that a person's capacities stay dormant, that talents remain undeveloped, that the mind and spirit become lethargic and that the heart is unfulfilled. Where is the security, the guidance, the wisdom, and the power? At the low end of the continuum, in the pleasure of a fleeting moment." Accurately captures my thoughts.
In control of things
@ 9:28 PM
Pretend to be in control of things and people will assume that you are.
Studying A Subject
Friday, April 27, 2012 @ 5:17 PM
Studying blindly on a subject is like getting singing right. You think you can perfect the song by getting the pitch right without thinking about the emotions and the meaning behind the words.
7 Habits Remarks
Tuesday, April 24, 2012 @ 9:15 AM
What you are shouts so loudly in my ear that I can't hear what you sayThe point is, you'll still be lost. The fundamental problem has nothing to do with your behaviour or your atttiude. It has everything to do with having a wrong map.
If you have the right map of Chicago, then the diligence becomes important. Yo u might work on your attitude - you could think more positively. You still wouldn't get to the right place, but perhaps you wouldn't care. Your attitude would be so postivie, you'll be happy whenever you were.
Many maps into 2 category, the way the world is and how we perceive they should be
If you don't let a teacher know what level you are -- by asking a question, or revealing your ignorance -- you will not learn or grow. You cannot pretend for long, for you will eventually be found out. Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education. Thoreau taught, "How can we remember our ignorance, which our growth requires, when we are using our knowledge all of the time?"
But borrowing strength builds weakness.
it reinforces dependence on external factors to get things done
It builds weakness in the person forced to acquiesce, stunting the development of independent reasoning, growth, and internal discipline
And finally, it builds weakness in the relationship. Fear replaces cooperation, and both people involved become more arbitrary and defensive.
I've learned that once children gain a sense of real possession, they share very naturally, freely, and spontaneously.
When relationships are strained and the air charged with emotion, an attempt to teach is often perceived as a form of judgment and rejection. But to take the child alone, quietly, when the relationship is good and to discuss the teaching or the value seems to have much greater impact. It may have been that the emotional maturity to do that was beyond my level of patience and internal control at the time.
Albert Einstein observed, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.
Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny
But knowing I need to listen and knowing how to listen is not enough. Unless I want to listen, unless I have the desire, it won't be a habit in my life. Creating a habit requires work in all three dimensions.
Happiness can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.
Private victories, the key to self mastery, from idependence to indepeendence.
you will feel benefits and see immediate payoffs that will be encouraging. In the words of Thomas Paine, "That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only which gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price on its goods."
In the midst of the most degrading circumstances imaginable, Frankl used the human endowment of
self-awareness to discover a fundamental principle about the nature of man: Between stimulus and
response, man has the freedom to choose.
Within the freedom to choose are those endowments that make us uniquely human. In addition to self-awareness, we have imagination -- the ability to create in our minds beyond our present reality. We have conscience -- a deep inner awareness of right and wrong, of the principles that govern our behavior, and a sense of the degree to which our thoughts and actions are in harmony with them. And we have independent will -- the ability to act based on our self-awareness, free of all other influences.
Within the freedom to choose are those endowments that make us uniquely human. In addition to self-awareness, we have imagination -- the ability to create in our minds beyond our present reality. We have conscience -- a deep inner awareness of right and wrong, of the principles that govern our behavior, and a sense of the degree to which our thoughts and actions are in harmony with them. And we have independent will -- the ability to act based on our self-awareness, free of all other influences.
"Proactivity" Defined
In discovering the basic principle of the nature of man, Frankl described an accurate self-map from which he began to develop the first and most basic habit of a highly effective person in any environment, the habit of Proactivity.
While the word proactivity is now fairly common in management literature, it is a word you won't find in most dictionaries. It means more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen.
In discovering the basic principle of the nature of man, Frankl described an accurate self-map from which he began to develop the first and most basic habit of a highly effective person in any environment, the habit of Proactivity.
While the word proactivity is now fairly common in management literature, it is a word you won't find in most dictionaries. It means more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen.
"I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday."
It's not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us
In fact, our most difficult experiences become the crucibles that forge our character and develop the internal powers, the freedom to handle difficult circumstances in the
future and to inspire others to do so as well.
people who end up with the good jobs are the proactive ones who are solutions to problems, not problems themselves,
who seize the initiative to do whatever is necessary, consistent with correct principles, to get the job
done.
Whether a problem is direct, indirect, or no control, we have in our hands the first step to the solution. Changing our habits, changing our methods of influence and changing the way we see our no control problems are all within our Circle of Influence.
At one seminar where I was speaking on the concept of proactivity, a man came up and said,
"Stephen, I like what you're saying. But every situation is so different. Look at my marriage. I'm
really worried. My wife and I just don't have the same feelings for each other we used to have. I
guess I just don't love her anymore and she doesn't love me. What can I do?"
"The feeling isn't there anymore?" I asked.
"That's right," he reaffirmed. "And we have three children we're really concerned about. you suggest?"
"Love her," I replied.
"I told you, the feeling just isn't there anymore."
"Love her."
"You don't understand. The feeling of love just isn't there."
"Then love her. If the feeling isn't there, that's a good reason to love her."
"But how do you love when you don't love?"
"My friend, love is a verb. Love -- the feeling -- is a fruit of love the verb. So love her.
"That's right," he reaffirmed. "And we have three children we're really concerned about. you suggest?"
"Love her," I replied.
"I told you, the feeling just isn't there anymore."
"Love her."
"You don't understand. The feeling of love just isn't there."
"Then love her. If the feeling isn't there, that's a good reason to love her."
"But how do you love when you don't love?"
"My friend, love is a verb. Love -- the feeling -- is a fruit of love the verb. So love her.
What do
Sacrifice.
Sacrifice.
Listen to her. Empathize. Appreciate. Affirm her. Are you willing to do that?"
In the great literature of all progressive societies, love is a verb. Reactive people make it a feeling. They're driven by feelings. Hollywood has generally scripted us to believe that we are not responsible, that we are a product of our feelings. But the Hollywood script does not describe the reality. If our feelings control our actions, it is because we have abdicated our responsibility and empowered them to
do so.
Proactive people make love a verb. Love is something you do: the sacrifices you make, the giving
of self, like a mother bringing a newborn into the world. If you want to study love, study those who sacrifice for others, even for people who offend or do not love in return. If you are a parent, look at the love you have for the children you sacrificed for. Love is a value that is actualized through loving actions. Proactive people subordinate feelings to values. Love, the feeling, can be recaptured.
"Lord, give me the courage to change the things which can and ought to be changed, the serenity to accept the things which cannot be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference."
In the great literature of all progressive societies, love is a verb. Reactive people make it a feeling. They're driven by feelings. Hollywood has generally scripted us to believe that we are not responsible, that we are a product of our feelings. But the Hollywood script does not describe the reality. If our feelings control our actions, it is because we have abdicated our responsibility and empowered them to
do so.
Proactive people make love a verb. Love is something you do: the sacrifices you make, the giving
of self, like a mother bringing a newborn into the world. If you want to study love, study those who sacrifice for others, even for people who offend or do not love in return. If you are a parent, look at the love you have for the children you sacrificed for. Love is a value that is actualized through loving actions. Proactive people subordinate feelings to values. Love, the feeling, can be recaptured.
"Lord, give me the courage to change the things which can and ought to be changed, the serenity to accept the things which cannot be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference."
Whether a problem is direct, indirect, or no control, we have in our hands the first step to the solution. Changing our habits, changing our methods of influence and changing the way we see our no control problems are all within our Circle of Influence.
The power to make and keep commitments to ourselves is the essence of developing the basic habits of effectiveness
"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."
We are more in need of a vision or designation and a compass (a set of principles or directions) and less in need of a road map. We often don't know what the terrain ahead will be like or what we will need to go through it; much will depend on our judgment at the time. But an inner compass will always give us direction.
Effectiveness -- often even survival -- does not depend solely on how much effort we expend, but on whether or not the effort we expend is in the right jungle.
No management success can compensate for failure in leadership. But leadership is hard because we're often caught in a management paradigm.
Mission Creed:
Seek and merit divine help.
Never compromise with honesty.
Remember the people involved.
Hear both sides before judging.
Obtain counsel of others.
Defend those who are absent.
Be sincere yet decisive.
Develop one new proficiency a year.
Plan tomorrow's work today.
Hustle while you wait.
Maintain a positive attitude.
Keep a sense of humor.
Be orderly in person and in work.
Do not fear mistakes -- fear only the absence of creative, constructive, and corrective responses to
those mistakes.
Facilitate the success of subordinates.
Listen twice as much as you speak.
Concentrate all abilities and efforts on the task at hand, not worrying about the next job or
promotion.
Never compromise with honesty.
Remember the people involved.
Hear both sides before judging.
Obtain counsel of others.
Defend those who are absent.
Be sincere yet decisive.
Develop one new proficiency a year.
Plan tomorrow's work today.
Hustle while you wait.
Maintain a positive attitude.
Keep a sense of humor.
Be orderly in person and in work.
Do not fear mistakes -- fear only the absence of creative, constructive, and corrective responses to
those mistakes.
Facilitate the success of subordinates.
Listen twice as much as you speak.
Concentrate all abilities and efforts on the task at hand, not worrying about the next job or
promotion.
Steve Job lectures
@ 9:15 AM
The biggest joy I have in life is the day where I started picking up a book. That opens my world to knowledge and wisdom from lessons of finer man.
Steve Jobs Lectures:
Misplaced Values
You know, my main reaction to this money thing is that it’s humorous, all the attention to it, be- cause it’s hardly the most insightful or valuable thing that’s happened to me in the past ten years. But it makes me feel old, sometimes, when I speak at a campus and I find that what students are most in awe of is the fact that I’m a millionaire.
I was worth about over a million dollars when
I was twenty-three and over ten million dollars when I was twenty-four, and over a hundred mil- lion dollars when I was twenty-five, and it wasn’t important because I never did it for the money.
they share a quality about the way they look at life, which is that the journey is the reward. They really want to see this product out in the world. It’s more important than their personal lives right now.
You know, my main reaction to this money thing is that it’s humorous, all the attention to it, be- cause it’s hardly the most insightful or valuable thing that’s happened to me in the past ten years. But it makes me feel old, sometimes, when I speak at a campus and I find that what students are most in awe of is the fact that I’m a millionaire.
Money
Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.... Rarely do I find an important product or service in people’s lives where you don’t have at least two competitors. Apple is positioned beauti- fully to be that second competitor. —CNNMoney/Fortune, November 9, 1998
Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.... Rarely do I find an important product or service in people’s lives where you don’t have at least two competitors. Apple is positioned beauti- fully to be that second competitor. —CNNMoney/Fortune, November 9, 1998
I was worth about over a million dollars when
I was twenty-three and over ten million dollars when I was twenty-four, and over a hundred mil- lion dollars when I was twenty-five, and it wasn’t important because I never did it for the money.
they share a quality about the way they look at life, which is that the journey is the reward. They really want to see this product out in the world. It’s more important than their personal lives right now.
Motivation
To former PepsiCo executive John Sculley, whom Jobs was trying to woo to Apple: Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?
—Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple, 1987
It’s better to be a pirate than to join the Navy. —Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple, 1987
To former PepsiCo executive John Sculley, whom Jobs was trying to woo to Apple: Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?
—Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple, 1987
It’s better to be a pirate than to join the Navy. —Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple, 1987
Product Imagination
It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fool- ing people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. So you can’t go out and ask people, you know, what’s the next big [thing]? There’s a great quote by Henry Ford who said, “If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse.”
It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fool- ing people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. So you can’t go out and ask people, you know, what’s the next big [thing]? There’s a great quote by Henry Ford who said, “If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse.”
To Be or Not to Be
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living some- one else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s think- ing. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown our your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intui- tion. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living some- one else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s think- ing. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown our your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intui- tion. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Heart of a Canoeist
@ 9:15 AM
If life were to end tomorrow, what do you think you have done well and what have you not.Looking back into my life, I'm glad I'm fortunate in most of the big things in my life - family being the most important, followed by education, great friends and thereafter people looking after me in my career.
Ever since the day I made the decision to experience hardship and grow, I have never looked back. I believe all that was in stored for me will aid me in my development of essential character building such as integrity, courage, and strength. To this date, I am glad with the way things turned out
I'm exceptionally proud of the fact that I am become a pro-active person, one who is able to take initiative to make things happen the way I envisioned it to be - Love SHarade for instance, my speakers for another instance. I am afraid in the past to go against the view by many people and thus afraid to make big decisions. However, from the execution of these events, I am convinced that my heart is set forth in the right direction, that I have the ability to execute what I deem as right, and correct in my point of view. To this date, I have enjoyed the fruit of these aspects.
I'm glad that as of today, given the philosophy imparted to me by Steve Jobs & Socrates, my personal values, wisdom and philosophy as, I would say on a higher value than the average individual. I am now better able to appreciate situation, gain situational awareness, as well as the ability to put myself to see in different perspective. I am better able to appreciate the workings of a big picture rather than think from the perspective of individualistic gains.
Yes I'm happy with every aspect of my life. I took up the role to be a navy officer in hopes that one day, I will be instilled with the value that characterizes one. Thank you for this.
And after all the successes that I have in my life, it is now time to discuss a tricky issue - That is, my love life. Sometimes being lead by your own imagination, will and thinking is a good thing - for no one has the right answers to live this world. By Socrates, "An unexamined life is not worth living." I have live by my own values and thinking, and to date, I remain as one of the most simple person. My intelligence comes from the fact that I am simple and willing to explore.
With regards to my love life, it will be considered as past and will never be revisited again. I have pursued my own beliefs and am satisfied to declare that today, I have officially proven that my definition of love stands different from everyone else. And because of this, I have learned a lot to these effects. Happy times, sad times, all I have been through it. Crossing through a state of depression, I now have heightened knowledge of what is to be. Everything has been worthwhile and worth it. Though a pity, I am glad that I have tried and said that I have done my best. There's no regret in whatever I have done. So once again, thank you to whoever that has been part of my experience - be it hardship or pain. It has been a worthwhile journey.
It is time that I continue my exploration in what is worthy of being explored.
So thank you. I am able to speak like I'm genuinely kenneth again. I seek to become an emotion less dependent on feelings. The idea isn't about not having so much feelings, but channeling your feelings into the right things. Thank you.
And I have a heart of a canoeist.
Signchology
Wednesday, April 4, 2012 @ 9:48 AM
Emotion Contrary Thereto