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Had my manager come in complaining about people not doing their work.  I came up with a badass response,  "I'm fed up too! But the difference between you and I is: When you're fed up, you don't do anything. When I'm fed up, I do it all myself." Mic drop, dismissed her.  In my mind anyway, but the arguement went on for a bit longer and in the end she said she'll do it, even though it isn't her work.  Good enough of an outcome, give myself a pat on the back and continue with my day's work. 

Yesterday, I had a chat with an old friend and the topic of love came up. I argued that love shouldn't be evaluated based on the amount of effort put in.  Some may disagree, and they may further think I don't put much effort into my relationship with my wife. But I don't pay much attention to most other people's opinions anyway.  If anything, love should be evaluated based on growth, not effort. I previously had this conversation with another friend and said that as long as I am a better person because of my wife, our relationship is working. My friend and I agreed that unfortunately, many relationships are evaluated based on effort. The upfront question "what has he/she done for me?" is a major obstacle to what we consider true love. Jokingly, we ranked Chinese guys as the ones who make the most effort, followed by Singaporean guys, and then Malaysian guys. While everything is relative, Malaysian guys still maintain a high standard. Anyway, it was just a joke...

The more stressed I am, the more problems I avoid and the fewer problems I solve. It is not true that the more problems I have, the more stressed I am. I am stressed only when I linger too long on a single problem. Solve it. Get out of stressful states ASAP to remain productive.

I realised why some don't like talking to me. I destroy people's confidence more than I bring them up. I challenge ideas and make them doubt their initial thoughts. I go deep, and often people aren't comfortable with that.  I need to insert a step before that to gauge the readiness of that experience.  If they are casual and the relationship is short term, I should make them feel good. I should not introduce a thought provoking experience.  If they need confidence, I should reassure them to a certain level.  Only if they are overconfident, do I anchor them down to reality.  My impact matters. 

Every time we meet someone new, it's a new beginning.  Not just for the relationship, but more importantly, for ourselves. We get to decide again: Who do we want to be (in front of this person)? What do I reveal first?  The worst of me? The best? Am I trying to impress?  Is there something to learn here?  How honest do we want to be? Is this person potentially dangerous?  Without thinking, then, depending on our mood, we'll default to what was last presented.  However, if some thought is managed, we can begin a new beginning of who we want to be.  This is why it's important that we meet new people every now and then. 

Today, I saw an Alam Flora driver with what appeared to be a special-needs child in the passenger seat. It so happened he stopped near my condo as I was cycling to work today. I stopped and gave him a hundred bucks and told him to take care of himself and his kid.  I want to be able to continue to help others discreetly like that. I would like to avoid a future where either I don't have time to do these discreet charity actions or every action is a highlight.  If I do arrive at that kind of a future, I am in what Yuval Hariri's description of a "Black Hole of Power".

I want to remind myself that the lack of time is equally as bad, if not worse, than the lack of money.  With money, we can provide temporary relief from our basic necessities in life, whether it be food or entertainment - to continue to live our lives.  With time, we can provide a listening ear, a word of advice, inspiration, or our own introspection - to change our lives. 

These are the friends I've made since I've been cycling to work for almost a year now. After every time away from KL, I looked forward to meeting them again.   Kak Susie, who keeps the main road clean. Mutu and Krishna, the pair that clean the residential area close to my condo.  Mutu was missing for awhile, replaced by Kak Susie and then reappeared here.  F.A.M. the security guard by the corner, keeping our streets safe.   These are the smiles I look forward to on my cycling days. 😊

"Do what you say you'd do." Just six words, but these six words carried me through my corporate career in the first seven years. The importance of being reliable is one of the foundations of building trust. Without it, we would not be tasked with anything significant. Yet, in almost a year, expecting something as simple as that has been a challenge. I hold others to my professional standards of being reliable, yet more often than not, I am disappointed. Do I have to lower my standards from large Multinational Corporations (MNC) to be more fitting to a Small Medium Enterprise (SME)? Do I have to compromise on something that I held so sacred as a professional? Trying to establish myself as an expert in SMEs, what kind of expectations are reasonable? No. In the last few months, I've thought deeply about this topic. I realised there's another layer to it that I could afford to ignore in large corporate settings and cannot afford to ignore in smaller businesses - ...

Yesterday, a new friend asked me.  I told her it was the sense of achievement, the dangers of the wilderness, the adventure. No other hobby gave so much and demanded so little. Just bring your rubbish back and leave only footprints.