Q: What do blondes & the Bermuda Triangle have in common?
A: They've both swallowed a lot of semen.
King of the Birds, Lord of the Skies
Gather ye rose buds while ye may, old time is still a flying;
and this same rose that you see today, tomorrow will be dying.
CarpeDiem: Seize the Day!
- Dead Poets Society
Friday, July 27, 2007
Charting Success
Charting Your Course to Success
(Taken from : Take Yourself to the Top! by Chris Widener)
Everybody wants to get to the top, whether it is the top of a career, a company, the earnings scale, or the many other ways that we as individuals can define the "top" in our own lives! But with so many people trying to get to the top, how come so many people aren´t moving up? I think there are some fundamental reasons why. Reasons that can be addressed and changed!
What are some things you can do to get to the top? Here are some thoughts for you.
First of all, define what the "top" means for you.
This is extremely important because if you don't know where you are going, you will never get there! Some people don't want to be the CEO of the company. In fact, many think they are better off then the CEO even though they don't make as much money. Instead, they think they are at the top because of less stress, weekends with their families, etc., and I see their point. It doesn't matter what others think is the top, only what you do, since you are only gauging whether or not YOU get there! So where is it for you? That is the first question for you to answer.
Be passionate about your goal.
Passion is the energy that drives us, or, as Alexander Pope said, passions are the "gales of life". Passion is the wind in the sails of work. Find some thing you love and you will find something you can get to the top of. If you don't love it, you may still make it to the top, though highly unlikely. And even if you do, there will be no joy. Let your passion carry you, because it will carry you far! Thomas Fuller put it this way: A man with passion rides a horse that runs away with him.
The will to continue in the face of hardship.
Another reason most will not get to the top is because they simply refuse to scale the mountains of hardship that separate them from the top. If you want to get to the beautiful view from the top, you will have to climb over any obstacles. Instead, many choose to stay at base camp! One would think that Bjorn Borg, one of the greatest tennis players to ever live, would consider his skill his greatest asset. Instead, this is what he says, "My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories." Continue until you get to the top!
Love people and treat them right.
What? Love people? That´s right! Why? Because if you are going to get to the top you are going to need other people. Be a jerk and you will find people dragging their feet on you. Treat them right and you will find them helping you and even cheering you on!
Master the appropriate skills.
Average skills will get you to the middle. Top skills will get you to the TOP! This is most assuredly true when combined with the points above. Are you achieving excellence in the skills you need? Are you growing day by day, month by month, year by year? You can always get better and getting better will take you closer to the top! Even if you only improve a little, you can keep improving that small amount and it will eventually become a big amount! Demand the best from yourself and you will get to the top. Remember the words of Jose Ortega y Gasset: "We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands on himself, and the latter who makes no demands on himself."
Define the Top
Be Passionate
Persevere
Love others
Skill Mastery!
These will take you to the top!
Chris Widener
(Taken from : Take Yourself to the Top! by Chris Widener)
Everybody wants to get to the top, whether it is the top of a career, a company, the earnings scale, or the many other ways that we as individuals can define the "top" in our own lives! But with so many people trying to get to the top, how come so many people aren´t moving up? I think there are some fundamental reasons why. Reasons that can be addressed and changed!
What are some things you can do to get to the top? Here are some thoughts for you.
First of all, define what the "top" means for you.
This is extremely important because if you don't know where you are going, you will never get there! Some people don't want to be the CEO of the company. In fact, many think they are better off then the CEO even though they don't make as much money. Instead, they think they are at the top because of less stress, weekends with their families, etc., and I see their point. It doesn't matter what others think is the top, only what you do, since you are only gauging whether or not YOU get there! So where is it for you? That is the first question for you to answer.
Be passionate about your goal.
Passion is the energy that drives us, or, as Alexander Pope said, passions are the "gales of life". Passion is the wind in the sails of work. Find some thing you love and you will find something you can get to the top of. If you don't love it, you may still make it to the top, though highly unlikely. And even if you do, there will be no joy. Let your passion carry you, because it will carry you far! Thomas Fuller put it this way: A man with passion rides a horse that runs away with him.
The will to continue in the face of hardship.
Another reason most will not get to the top is because they simply refuse to scale the mountains of hardship that separate them from the top. If you want to get to the beautiful view from the top, you will have to climb over any obstacles. Instead, many choose to stay at base camp! One would think that Bjorn Borg, one of the greatest tennis players to ever live, would consider his skill his greatest asset. Instead, this is what he says, "My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories." Continue until you get to the top!
Love people and treat them right.
What? Love people? That´s right! Why? Because if you are going to get to the top you are going to need other people. Be a jerk and you will find people dragging their feet on you. Treat them right and you will find them helping you and even cheering you on!
Master the appropriate skills.
Average skills will get you to the middle. Top skills will get you to the TOP! This is most assuredly true when combined with the points above. Are you achieving excellence in the skills you need? Are you growing day by day, month by month, year by year? You can always get better and getting better will take you closer to the top! Even if you only improve a little, you can keep improving that small amount and it will eventually become a big amount! Demand the best from yourself and you will get to the top. Remember the words of Jose Ortega y Gasset: "We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands on himself, and the latter who makes no demands on himself."
Define the Top
Be Passionate
Persevere
Love others
Skill Mastery!
These will take you to the top!
Chris Widener
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Two Fools
There are two fools in this world. One is the millionaire who thinks that by hoarding money he can somehow accumulate real power, and the other is the penniless reformer who thinks that if only he can take the money from one class and give it to another, all the world's ills will be cured.
Henry Ford
Henry Ford
To Achieve, You Must Regard
"For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Mental Vacations
I had a wonderful time catching up with an old varsity friend yesterday. He happened to stay in the same hall with me during our freshman year. We have some common grounds: We love to play tennis, married, in the financial industry, and ... damn good-looking! (okay okay, I admit, ... I am the good-looking one: I am good at looking at others)
During our conversation, he was surprised to learn that I actually have a detailed plan for my entire life right up to age 75! What car I drive when I am 40, what house I will be in (with picture of the house), how much I set aside for vacation, household expenditures, languages to master, income I take home, ...etc.
He said I am one in a million in such approach. I agree. He ask me why. I say, "Why not?" He questioned the validity of planning so far ahead & in such vivid details. My answer is profoundly simple & simply profound: Life have to be lived forward, but it has to be understood backward, develop upward, contribute outward, & enjoy inward. This is my holistic approach & philosophy to living my life.
When was the last time you took a trip to a truly amazing place? I know mine is coming soon. I am planning a trip to KK, one to HK, & a near-term one to NYK. But do you know what is an even more amazing trip to take? A trip to your future!
Think about it: How amazing can your future be? Your past will never change; it is your past. And your present is what it is. But... your future can be anything you want it to be.
Have you thought lately about what you want your future to be? And I don't just mean seeing a wealthy person on TV and then "wishing" it was you. I mean really sitting down and envisioning your future. "Seeing" it so clearly in your mind's eye that you can actually "visit" there often?
Did you know that one of the keys to successful people achieving what they do is that they see the future before it becomes their present. And they spend their present creating that future they desire.
So, take a good vacation this year, but be sure to visit your future often so you can begin to create it today. And when your tomorrow becomes today, you will be glad you took that mental vacation! As for me, I do this daily, and such trips are healthy.
"The man who has no imagination has no wings."
- Muhammad Ali
And I must add that "he who has no moral foundation has no roots".
- Eagleboy
What's the point of achieving your highest dreams at the expense of moral bankruptcy. May we find wings and roots in our relentless pursuit of life's dreams!
During our conversation, he was surprised to learn that I actually have a detailed plan for my entire life right up to age 75! What car I drive when I am 40, what house I will be in (with picture of the house), how much I set aside for vacation, household expenditures, languages to master, income I take home, ...etc.
He said I am one in a million in such approach. I agree. He ask me why. I say, "Why not?" He questioned the validity of planning so far ahead & in such vivid details. My answer is profoundly simple & simply profound: Life have to be lived forward, but it has to be understood backward, develop upward, contribute outward, & enjoy inward. This is my holistic approach & philosophy to living my life.
When was the last time you took a trip to a truly amazing place? I know mine is coming soon. I am planning a trip to KK, one to HK, & a near-term one to NYK. But do you know what is an even more amazing trip to take? A trip to your future!
Think about it: How amazing can your future be? Your past will never change; it is your past. And your present is what it is. But... your future can be anything you want it to be.
Have you thought lately about what you want your future to be? And I don't just mean seeing a wealthy person on TV and then "wishing" it was you. I mean really sitting down and envisioning your future. "Seeing" it so clearly in your mind's eye that you can actually "visit" there often?
Did you know that one of the keys to successful people achieving what they do is that they see the future before it becomes their present. And they spend their present creating that future they desire.
So, take a good vacation this year, but be sure to visit your future often so you can begin to create it today. And when your tomorrow becomes today, you will be glad you took that mental vacation! As for me, I do this daily, and such trips are healthy.
"The man who has no imagination has no wings."
- Muhammad Ali
And I must add that "he who has no moral foundation has no roots".
- Eagleboy
What's the point of achieving your highest dreams at the expense of moral bankruptcy. May we find wings and roots in our relentless pursuit of life's dreams!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Cause of Recent Volatility
As you can see from the above chart, the real culprit is the US subprime lending! Subprime lending surged amid low interest rates and rising home values. The increase in the average home pricing in turn caused more to take up loans to get more homes, ... etc.
But then again, what's the cause of the recent market volatility and subprime?
.
Ans: Delinquencies.
.
As you can see from the above chart, delinquencies in the subprime sector is going up. It will continue to chart up over the next few months. This is going to lead to a very gory financial mess. Believe me...
.
Source: JP Morgan Chase, Mortgage Bankers Association of America
Fear Not Being Alone
Before I can have any joy in being alone with God I must have learned not to fear being alone with myself. Shrinking from any deep self-scrutiny is by no means an uncommon thing, and often goes far to explain the feverish restlessness with which a world-loving heart plunges into perpetual rounds of gaieties and dissipations; they serve as an escape from troublesome questions about the soul, and help to get rid of the clamours of conscience.
G. H. Knight
G. H. Knight
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