Beware of the Dark Side...

Today is the opening preview for Star Wars Episode III in Singapore. It's being a long awaited show for some. It has being more than 20 years since the first installation. I still remember watching it when I was a kid, when light saber was one of the coolest toy in the world. And I read somewhere that George Lucas actually requested for the merchanise rights instead of box-office collections after his first episode. Guess the movie companies must have being cursing and swearing since.

Ironically, I have being transferred to a new department which the ex-Engineering VP always jokingly refer to as the "Dark Side". Guess it will be a while before I become a Sith Lord ;-)

"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." - Yoda

Dare To Fail

"Studies have shown that a baby falls an average of 240 times before he learns how to walk. Funny thing is that when we become an adult, we call it quits when we fail just once or twice"

Love your job, but don't fall in love with your company

Got this in an email from a friend. In short, it means get a life!
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Mr. Narayana Murthy is undoubtedly one of the most famous persons from Karnataka. He is known not just for building the biggest IT empire in India but also for his simplicity. Almost every important dignitary visits Infosys campus.

He delivered an interesting speech during an employee session with another IT company in India. He is incidentally, one of the top 50 Influencial people of Asia according to an Asiaweek publication and also the new IT Advisor to the Thailand Prime Minister.

Extract of Mr. Narayana Murthy's Speech during Mentor Session :

"LOVE YOUR JOB, BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR COMPANY BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN THE COMPANY STOPS LOVING YOU" -- Narayana Murthy

I know people who work 12 hours a day, six days a week, or more. Some people do so because of a work emergency where the long hours are only temporary. Other people I know have put in these hours for years.

I don't know if they are working all these hours, but I do know they are in the office this long.

Others put in long office hours because they are addicted to the workplace.

Whatever the reason for putting in overtime, working long hours over the long term is harmful to the person and to the organization.

There are things managers can do to change this for everyone's benefit. Being in the office long hours, over long periods of time, makes way for potential errors. My colleagues who are in the office long hours frequently make mistakes caused by fatigue. Correcting these mistakes requires their time as well as the time and energy of others.

I have seen people work Tuesday through Friday to correct mistakes made after 5 PM on Monday.

Another problem is that people who are in the office long hours are not pleasant company. They often complain about other people (who aren't working as hard); they are irritable, or cranky, or even angry. Other people avoid them.

Such behaviour poses problems, where work goes much better when people work together instead of avoiding one another.

As Managers, there are things we can do to help people leave the office.

First and foremost is to set the example and go home ourselves. I work with a manager who chides! people for working long hours. His words quickly lose their meaning when he sends these chiding group e-mails with a time-stamp of 2 AM, Sunday.

Second is to encourage people to put some balance in their lives. For instance, here is a guideline I find helpful:

1) Wake up, eat a good breakfast, and go to work.
2) Work hard and smart for eight or nine hours.
3) Go home.
4) Read the books/comics, watch a funny movie, dig in the dirt, play with your kids, etc.
5) Eat well and sleep well.

This is called recreating. Doing steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 enable step 2.

Working regular hours and recreating daily are simple concepts. They are hard for some of us because that requires 'personal change'. They are possible since we all have the power to choose to do them.

In considering the issue of overtime, I am reminded of my oldest son. When he was a toddler, if people were visiting the apartment, he would not fall asleep no matter how long the visit, and no matter what time of day it was. He would fight off sleep until the visitors left. It was as if he was afraid that he would miss something.

Once our visitors' left, he would go to sleep. By this time, however, he was over tired and would scream through half the night with nightmares. He, my wife, and I, all paid the price for his fear of missing out. Perhaps some people put in such long hours because they don't want to miss anything when they leave the office.

The trouble with this is that events will never stop happening. That is life !! Things happen 24 hours a day.

Allowing for little rest is not ultimately practical. So, take a nap. Things will happen while you're asleep, but you will have the energy to catch up when you wake.

Hence "LOVE YOUR JOB BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR COMPANY"

Greatest responsibility in life...

...is raising a kid. It's never an easy task. You need lots of patience, endurance, commitment and a big heart to do it. You need to throw away your adult thinking and reasoning when dealing with the young one. You must practise restraint on your temper very religiously.

It helps if there are other family members who can help, as it takes away part of the stress and frustration. But in modern age society where young working couple lives apart from their family, it is an uphill task for some. Perhaps that's one of the reason why so many couples are hesitant to take the first step.

However, it's not really that tough if you remind yourself that their needs are very simple: Eat, sleep, poo.

And keep reminding yourself: Be patient. Be very patient.

Take care of Mr Liver

A friend sent me an article about taking care of our liver...only then did I realise I have being 'ill-treating' it...Posting it here to keep reminding myself.
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Lungs & big intestines share the system, if one or the other is infected or sick, the other will also be sick. When the Liver is in pain, there is not much signs or symptoms to be detected. Before many cancers happen, usually the Liver will be the first to get sick. Liver filters out the poisons and attacks all other viruses in the body. 99% Chinese have weak livers as they eat a lot of meat, and high fat foods.

The Liver's repair time is effective from 11pm - 3am. Therefore, sleeping late after 11pm & having late night supper 2 hours before sleep, especially high cholesterol and high fat foods weakens the Liver, as it does not have sufficient time to rest and regenerate. E ven when one sleeps in later in the morning to replace loss sleep will not help.

If you get very hungry just before bedtime, eat some fruits & vegetables which is easy to digest. Meat takes about 4 hours to digest before it goes into the intestines. Meat cooked in oil takes about 12 hours before going into the intestines. This will provoke the Liver & the digestive tract to overwork in filtering the toxins, thus you will tend to feel very tired when you wake up in the morning. Oil is the main culprit that will weaken the functions of the Liver and damage it. Medication cannot cure Liver problem and it will damage it even further.

Cold-pressed Olive oil, cucumber, raw chili, garlic, onion, little bamboo, salt/sea-salt, radish, pumpkin and small fish are good for the body. Sesame oil is ok. Food-preservatives, Food colourings, Bee Hoon is processed with Aluminium (causes Dementia), Bleach, syrup, Pesticides are bad for Liver health. Wrong medication can shrink and damage the Liver badly. Radiation from microwave oven destroys all nutrients in the food. Western medication is bad for the Liver. Chinese medication is bad for kidney. White radish will disable the effects of the Chinese medication.

Sleeping late for children is unhealthy as it weakens memory and intelligence. Best Healthy times to sleep is 9pm, especially so for people who is sick or recovering from it and do not sleep later than 11pm. Lots of rest is good for the Liver to recover. When using eye-cover during bed-time, use only pure-cotton and do not use Rubber, latex material.

A Detoxification Diet helps the Liver & Intestines to recover fast. Natural fresh foods are best for the Liver and overall well being. Do not rely on packed, bottled or canned health foods/vitamins, as they lack a lot of natural and essential vitamins which can only be derived from pure, unprocessed natural foods.

A balance of mental/emotional state of mind is very important to the total well-being. Too much Stress of all kinds, loud noises/music, anger, irritation suppressed for too long, pessimism, depressive moods, no goals in life, feeling life has no value or blaming the world & everyone else for his life will further weaken the body system. When the Liver is unhealthy, the Person usually has a bad temper and gets easily angered or irritated. Giving out gas, perspiration and urine are ways of purging out the toxins from the body.

Do not use too much of air-conditioners as they suppress the body from perspiration. This natural way of purging helps to reduce the load of the Liver. Open the windows for fresh air.

Life is fragile

Death comes to us all, be it a big boss of a group of restaurants, or the ex-President. Regardless of how influential you were, or how rich you were, or how insignificant you were, you die when your time is up.

Then what's the purpose in life? Probably it's not just about yourself, but about the people around you, the people you love and love you, about the people whom you will influence, about the legacy that you leave behind.

Go with your heart and you will live (or leave) life without too much regrets...