"You're Welcome." - Filed under 'ambition'

December 18, 2009

How to decide which "gurus" to cut out of your life.

Start opting-out.

Take a few minutes to assess every piece of email you receive that comes from someone who promised to teach you how to become an internet marketing genius, double your number of Facebook fans, guarantee that you’ll get 15 retweets per day by following 8 simple rules or any other claim that simply did not deliver.

via socialmediatoday.com

You don't want to just unsubscribe from everything pell-mell.

Here's some wise advice - unsubscribe from lists that failed to deliver, this year.

Don't unsubscribe me, though - I pass on useful tips like this to you. Haha!

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Filed under // advice ambition attention gurus productivity time wisdom work

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December 16, 2009

We become what we behold. For better or worse. #Malaysia @Aisehman @Asohan

Aisehman (@Aisehman)
12/17/09 1:40 PM
Mufti calls for law to govern practice of black magic http://bit.ly/4YntMY Salem anyone? God pls dont let this happen

Sent with Tweetie

Interesting how the fundamentalists end of sounding like Puritans and the supremacists end up sounding like Zionists.

I guess we really do become the thing we hate.

Hating evil is not the same as loving good.

Dying for a cause is not the same as living for a calling.

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Filed under // ambition calling hate love Malaysia politics religion spirituality

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November 18, 2009

Freeing Slaves: All we can do is all we can do. Better do it, then!

Part of my ambition is to free slaves. During my recent church retreat, we played Romanopoly, which is a life-sized role-playing game based on the social infrastructure of ancient Rome. Your basic activity is to "trade" by tossing coins with two other citizens. The one with the odd result earns the other two persons' coins.

During the course of the game, you can also buy slaves to help you amass more money.

After awhile, I noticed that trading became tiresome and the only real meaning in the life of a Romanopolist is to free the slaves. Much like in real life. We can complain and moan about how our paychecks, houses and cars are too small, but nearby, there are slaves. And I'm not talking about "slaves to their jobs" or "slaves to fashion" or "slaves to alcohol", although all these are legitimate concerns worthy of attention. But at this moment, I'm thinking of "slaves to slavery". I mean workers without rights, unlawfully detained and forced to labour for their "owners'" profit. I mean unpaid garment workers. I mean child labourers. I mean forced prostitutes.

"None of us are free until all of us are free."

What can we do in the face of almost 30 million slaves in the world today? We can do everything we can do. I'm starting by selling ebooks. Half of my proceeds will go to International Justice Mission for the emancipation of slaves. It's small, it's practical, it's a start. While the contents of my ebooks will free their readers' imaginations to greater ambition, the proceeds of the ebooks will help free unknown slaves, in unseen places, of unspeakable horrors.

And that is part of my Ambition Cube.

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Filed under // action ambition human rights justice oppression slavery

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November 17, 2009

Angry Young Man = Cool. Angry Old Man = Sad. Do Something Before It's Too Late!

Angry Young Man = Cool

via flickr.com

Angry Old Man = Sad

via flickr.com

Do Something Before It's Too Late!

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Filed under // ambition angst funny photo wisdom

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November 17, 2009

Writing completes what reading starts.

Greg's tweet got me thinking: What if the answers we seek are not found in the books we read but in the books we must write?

Do not all artists create for themselves, after all? Chefs cook what they like to eat. Musicians play what they like to hear. Authors write what they like to read. And yet, it's not selfish to do so, because we share so much in common with each other, that what helps me can likely help you. And so, in creating for myself, I also help you. And vice versa.

But the thought that struck me tonight, is the remembrance that reading is not enough. Writing is the completion of understanding. And now that I have written this thought down, it sounds so obvious. But the truth, once articulated, always seems obvious. And this is the truth: There is a spot in our personal psyche that reading just can't reach. Writing must fill the gap.

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Filed under // ambition learning reading wisdom writing

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November 1, 2009

What would you do if you were going to die and why aren't you doing it?

When my mom was stricken with cancer, when it was advanced, we often had in the back of our minds, "Might as well do such and such and don't hold back - who knows how long we have with her?"

One of the things she wanted to do, but never did, was to visit our relatives in Australia. Granted, my mother was not one for travel, and plain procrastination was one reason we've never gone to Sydney, but another factor was the cost. The bottom line.

However, when you're faced with death, money becomes less of an object. Inconvenience becomes less of an object. "What would people think?" becomes less of an object. When you're faced with death.

Sadly, it was too late.

My mom said that when she recovered, she would go on a holiday with my dad. She did not recover, so instead of going down under, she went up and over. Still, it's a comfort to me, to know that at the end, her values became clearer. Or, rather, it became easier to decide. After all, when one particular shot of chemo costs ten thousand bucks, what's a round trip to Australia? Child's play.

Yes, it's possible to waste money by spending it out of turn. But it's also possible to waste money by not spending it when the time calls for it. The nature of money is to be spent. We should spend it on worthwhile things. The same goes for time. Time must be spent wisely. Perhaps infinitely more so than money.

When we're faced with possible death, we're willing to "let go" and "just do it". After all, you don't know how many days you have left.

Here's the thing - we're all going to die. We may not be sick or serving in a war zone, but even if it's going to be peacefully, in bed, many decades hence - we're all dying. And we don't really know what tomorrow's going to bring. Sure, it'll probably be the usual routine, but no one knows for sure, really. So, if we're all dying anyway, why aren't we living today to the full?

Hope, to me, is sparked by the fact of death. Today is full of potential waiting for our actions to make them manifest. While we live, we can - so we should - answer the quiet, persistent call that whispers so loudly deep within us.

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Filed under // ambition carpe diem death hope life money Mother time

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October 29, 2009

Productivity Tip: Choose Between Batching & Thin-Slicing

It is 12:41 am, I was about to turn in for the night, and I realised that I have not written my 20 minutes for the day. I am sipping a mug of Milo right now. There's nothing like a mug of Milo right before bed. I suspect that Milo might be the cure for insomnia. Less teh tarik, more Milo, people.

It is 12:43 am. I cannot guarantee that you will be reading this post, because I am only committed to write for 20 minutes a day, not to post every day. I'll probably be posting more than one post a day anyway. For example, I've posted 2 posts today. I'm particularly pleased (and disturbed) with "Meet Mrs Darth Vader" (http://alphalim.me/meet-mrs-darth-vader).

And then, of course, there's my Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/alphalim) - you can follow me there or, if you're a Facebook friend of mine, you're already getting my tweets in your Facebook feed.

Talking about Twitter brings me to thinking about batching versus thin-slicing. One of Tim Ferriss's lifehacks is "batching". That is, allowing small tasks to accumulate and then tackling them all at one go. For example, it may be better to process dozens of emails in an hour than to process a couple of emails every half an hour throughout your work day, which would interrupt your work. That's one way of doing things.

Another way is to thin-slice. I used to have a monthly recurring task in my to-do list (I use http://toodledo.com/): "Run AppFresh". AppFresh is a nifty Mac app that searches your computer for all apps and notifies you of any updates available.

I ran it recently and more than a dozen - maybe twenty - updates were available. It took me a looong time to download all those updates. And even longer to install them. So, I thought, instead of batching this, how about thin-slicing this? (If you want to seem wise, just do the opposite of what you've been doing.) Instead of batching my updates and making a mountain out of molehills every month, I decided to run AppFresh every day. Automatically, of course. (I just discovered that feature.)

Now, on most days AppFresh doesn't bother me at all, and on those days that it does bother me, there are only one or two updates, which don't take long at all, at all. And my Mac stays fresh, fresh, every day!

Some things are better batched, some things are better sliced thin. If one way isn't working, try the other!

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Filed under // ambition batching insomnia productivity thin-slicing

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October 27, 2009

New Experiment: Writing 20 minutes a day for 21 days #write20x21

Today, I've decided to start another experiment - 20 minutes of writing a day, 21 days.

I'm in the middle of another experiment - in bed by 10, for 21 days. That's not going too well at all. It seems that nights are not very much in my control. Why? See, a lot of things - collaborative things - happen at night. Social stuff, after-hours stuff, voluntary stuff. The net effect is, I've not been able to make it to bed by 10 for many nights. I'm still trying, of course. You can actually track my progress on this page, courtesy of flowingdata.com:

http://your.flowingdata.com/alphalim/page/492/

Now, I'm trying this other experiment of 20 minutes of writing a day for 21 days. I know, I know, I know Stephen King says 1,000 words a day, but - perfect is the enemy of good. i.e., when you're "good enough", good becomes the enemy of best. But, when you're not "good enough", best is the enemy of good. So, I'm not aiming for 1,000 words a day, but 20 minutes of writing a day. I think that's doable. We'll see.

And why 21 days? There's no real research I know of to support it, but it's a rule of thumb that many "experts" throw around as the minimum time required to develop a habit. Yes, I'm aiming to make 20 minutes a day of writing a habit. (And that doesn't include writing "at work".) After that, then we'll work on 1,000 words a day, Mr King.

Also, the experts (Leo Babauta at least [http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/01/07/the-power-of-less-leo-babauta-zen-habits/]) say that you should focus on one habit at a time. It's hard enough trying to adopt one habit. Don't scuttle your efforts by trying to do too many life-changing times at one go - that seems to be the wisdom. We'll see how I make out with this thing. And you're welcome to watch! I'll even track it on flowingdata right here:

http://your.flowingdata.com/alphalim/page/546/

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Filed under // ambition habit writing

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October 20, 2009

Outliers: a call to humility and generosity.

Dear friend o' mine, I wrote this as a reply to your Twitter direct
message, but it's just too long, so here it is as a blog post. Because
Posterous makes it as easy as sending an email, anyway!

Premise of *Outliers* by Malcolm Gladwell: Outstanding people within a
sample group always have external aids to success. Always. "Rags to
riches by sweat of my brow alone" is fiction.

Like Bill Gates. Fortunate of birth year, family heritage, parents'
choice of school. Also, he's smart, of course. But argument is that
someone equally smart minus his opportunities, would not experience
same success. Gates acknowledges this.

Sounds obvious but then all truth is obvious once articulated.
Gladwell says we must create abundance of opportunities for
undiscovered talent.

Don't know what to make of book except three things:

1. Humility. Whatever I have acheived is not by my effort exclusively.

2. Gratitude. Others have helped me.

3. Supplication. Praying for and being open to "lucky breaks", so to
speak ;).

An eye-opening, assumption-destroying book. Antidote to gung-ho, macho
entrepreneurial success stories. Worth a read!

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Filed under // ambition book Malcolm Gladwell outliers recommendation success

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October 13, 2009

Forget Rubik's Cube. Can you solve the Ambition Cube?

I've been thinking of ambition and I think this thought will not let me sleep until I commit the germ of it to paper - that is, the virtual yellow legal pad of my iPhone Notes app ;).

Ambition. Years ago, I realised that ambition can kill. Not always biological life, but commonly, the life of the soul. And even more commonly, spiritual life. Envy and selfish ambition, said St. Paul, are the environment for all kinds of evil to flourish. And it's true.

At the same time, I believe that I've gone too far in purging myself of selfish ambition, that I've purged all ambition out of myself. This is not healthy either. Lately the thought of ambition has been simmering in my insides again, and I want to state what I consider to be the three characteristics of healthy ambition.

Healthy ambition is: shared, scalable and sustainable. This is the Ambition Cube.

*Shared* ambition benefits more than one. More than a cabal of cronies. Shared ambition benefits the world - that is, anyone that ambition comes in contact with. It can be, to put a computer on every desk. To organise the world's information. To make a personable computer. It can be, to mend children's cleft lips. To help people die with dignity. To provide drinkable water in African villages. These healthy ambitions benefit every person who encounters them - in small ways, big ways, momentous ways, trivial ways. But they bring benefit far beyond the personal enrichment of the ambition's instigator.

*Scalable* ambition works when it's just one person being helped or one million being helped. Mother Theresa started with herself picking up the dying in Calcutta. Then her ambition (we don't usually think of her mission as an ambition, but she was actually a very ambitious lady) spread to others who joined her, and millions got to feel the touch of love and dignity.

Healthy ambitions scale. If it takes Billy Boy late nights every night to climb halfway up the corporate ladder, it will cost him his wife and kids (and likely his body) to get to the top. I'm not saying climbing ladders is wrong. I'm saying Billy Bob's got himself a bad ladder.

*Sustainable* ambitions produce - not consume - resources as a net result. Blowing one's life savings on rock climbing is not a healthy ambition. I'm not saying that climbing rocks is bad. I'm saying it has to be sustainable. Perhaps a rock-climbing school that spreads the love of rock climbing as well as brings in revenue to support the passion, is a right idea. That way, it's sustainable, scalable (open more schools) and shared - arguably the most important point.

I used to think in terms of "selfless" ambition, but then I realised that doesn't really hit the spot. What is selfless? Just to avoid being selfish. Still too inward looking. *Shared* ambition gives. It invites. It benefits a tribe of believers. It lives on beyond its instigator.

The Healthy Ambition Cube - Shared, Scalable, Sustainable Ambition.

I invite you to share your thoughts with me on this idea and on your ambitions. Do they resonate with this idea? Is this idea true or a bunch of crap? What do you think?

Now it's out there, maybe it'll let me sleep ;).

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Filed under // ambition Ambition Cube scalable ambition sharing life sustainability wisdom work/life

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