Inspirational Quote

When you develop your ability to balance your emotions, unexpected problems won't knock you off balance as easily, and you'll return more quickly to a positive outlook.

Peggy McColl

Inspiration for today...

Inspirational Quote

“Life is 10% of what happens to me and 

90% of how I react to it.”

John Maxwell

speaker, author

A proud moment as a parent...

Was very proud today because my girl was awarded to prestigious CHIJ Ingot Award. I was glad that she had internalised what we as parents and teachers have taught her.

In today's complex and fast changing world, knowledge and information are no longer the key to our kids life success. The key to their success in life will be strong values.

My message to my girl:

"Jovin...Values are important. It is as important..if not, more important than your good academic results. Remember this. Daddy and Mommy are both very proud of both your academic and character development achievements. Inspire your mei mei and keep up the good work! Remember what I always taught you...Do unto others what you want others to do onto you :) - Our Golden Rule in JL family."

Inspirational Quote

“This I do know beyond any reasonable doubt. 

Regardless of what you are doing, if you pump long enough, hard enough and enthusiastically enough, sooner or later the effort will bring forth the reward.”

Zig Ziglar (born 1926);

motivational author, speaker

Inspiration for today...

Inspirational Quote

“History provides abundant examples of people whose greatest gift was in redeeming, inspiring, liberating, 

and nurturing the gifts of others.”

Sonya Rudikoff -

Author

Please don't run away from your suffering.

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

~ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross ~

Inspirational Quote

“If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, 'Here comes number seventy-one'!”

Richard DeVos (born 1926);

American businessman

Leadership Lessons

As leaders, our role is to provide clear guidance to our people so that they can do their job better. If our guidance hinders their work, we are not doing our job as leaders well.

When I give guidance to me team, I often use DR. GRAC to provide clear guidance for them to do their job better. DR. GRAC is the acronym for...

DR. = Desired Results (What I hope to achieve, my objective (s))

G = Guidelines my team should follow.

R = Resources available for them to get the job done well. Sometimes, I am their key resource to clear obstacles so that they can get the job done.

A = Accountability. How they should keep me posted. How often I want progress updates. Who is accountable or responsible for this piece of work?

C = Consequences. The positive or negative consequences if they get the job done well or not done. How can this piece of work be linked to the bigger picture (if relevant)?

That's my leadership sharing this week. Cheers!

P/S: DRGRAC is not my idea/concept. I learnt this from Dr. Covey's 7 habits of Highly Effective People. You can also use DRGRAC for your planning work as well.

Matthew Wright Magic Lecture_5 Jan 2013

Just attended a magic lecture by Matthew Wright organised by my magic club IBM. Matthew is one of the very best magicians in the UK. He is the only living magician to have been awarded The Magic Circle Magician of the Year, The International Magician of the Year and The IBM Magician of the Year. As well as this he was placed second in the FISM European Championships of Magic and has been awarded the RJP Act of the Year and the RJP Show of the Year over the past two years for his work in Spain.

Matthew's lecture was full of character. I like his persona and impressed with his skills. A busker for 6 years before turning pro. His magic has a good blend of audience participation and comedy. All pictures taken by my Olympus M4/3 OMD and Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 lens. Enjoy the pictures.

 

Matthew's magic involves lots of audience participation. Perhaps due to his busking background/roots, this performance style comes as no surprise.

Performing the oldest trick in magic...cups and balls. Matthew did it very well.

Managed to capture some moments with my magical friends as well.

It was another magical evening.

Inspirational Quote

“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven't planted.”

David Bly (born 1952);

Politician

Firday Story Nite: Nails in the Fence - A Story About Anger

Once upon a time there was a little boy who was talented, creative, handsome, and extremely bright. A natural leader. The kind of person everyone would normally have wanted on their team or project.

But he was also self-centered and had a very bad temper. When he got angry, he usually said, and often did, some very hurtful things. In fact, he seemed to have little regard for those around him.Even friends. So, naturally, he had few. “But,” he told himself, “that just shows how stupid most people are!”

As he grew, his parents became concerned about this personality flaw, and pondered long and hard about what they should do.

Finally, the father had an idea. And he struck a bargain with his son. He gave him a bag of nails, and a BIG hammer. “Whenever you lose your temper,” he told the boy, “I want you to really let it out. Just take a nail and drive it into the oak boards of that old fence out back. Hit that nail as hard as you can!”

Of course, those weathered oak boards in that old fence were almost as tough as iron, and the hammer was mighty heavy, so it wasn’t nearly as easy as it first sounded.

Nevertheless, by the end of the first day, the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence (That was one angry young man!). Gradually, over a period of weeks, the number dwindled down. Holding his temper proved to be easier than driving nails into the fence!

Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He felt mighty proud as he told his parents about that accomplishment. “As a sign of your success,” his father responded, “you get to PULL OUT one nail. In fact, you can do that each day that you don’t lose your temper even once.”

Well, many weeks passed. Finally one day the young boy was able to report proudly that all the nails were gone.

At that point, the father asked his son to walk out back with him and take one more good look at the fence. “You have done well, my son,” he said. “But I want you to notice the holes that are left. No matter what happens from now on, this fence will never be the same. Saying or doing hurtful things in anger produces the same kind of result.

There will always be a scar. It won’t matter how many times you say you’re sorry, or how many years pass, the scar will still be there. And a verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. People are much more valuable than an old fence. They make us smile. They help us succeed. Some will even become friends who share our joys, and support us through bad times.

And, if they trust us, they will also open their hearts to us. That means we need to treat everyone with love and respect. We need to prevent as many of those scars as we can.”

A most valuable lesson, don’t you think? And a reminder most of us need from time to time. Everyone gets angry occasionally. The real test is what we DO with it.

If we are wise, we will spend our time building bridges rather than barriers in our relationships

About Stories...

From personal and professional experiences, I know that stories are very powerful because,

1. they are entertaining and can build rapport and connect with your target audience;

2. they can make it memorable and meaningful which will help in learning (assuming you are a good storyteller); and

3. they can help to bypass conscious resistance (sounds very technical leh!) – meaning, people will be less defensive and open to your sharing;

I use stories to communicate key messages in my work almost everyday. At home, I will try to spend time sharing a story with my girls before they go to bed on Friday nights. I use stories to impart values to my girls besides modelling the way. I find this extremely effective and fun. It’s my way of bonding with my two girls.

Both my girls enjoy my stories very much and sometimes when I am too tired to share my stories, they would remind me or drag me out of bed just to tell them a story before they go to sleep. I must confess that sometimes I do miss my Friday story night with them when I’m too tired mentally. Nevertheless, I strive to share my stories with my two princesses at least once a week.

If you want some inspiration for stories, please checkout my stories section in my blog or click on the link below.


http://jimlearningandinspirationalmoments.blogspot.sg/search/label/Stories