Archive for the ‘Idea / Mind Hack’ Category

Straight Road

Summary – Sit down and write your policy

If you are employed in a company, I’m sure you are familiar with the word “company policy”. Have you read them? I have, and I am not sure I understand what it says there. Everything is so general and I keep asking myself, what can I benefit from this. They were framed as if they were very important.

Basically “company policy” is a very general statement on how the company will react to certain issues. An example is sentences like this – “Safety first”. So whenever a choice has to be made between profit and safety, the safety issue will be addressed first. It’s a policy.

A more interesting question would be – What’s your ultimate personal policy?

The Exercise
The following is an exercise I encourage you to try. Find yourself a paper and a pen. Of course sitting down, come up with an ultimate policy for you. A sentence that will be your guide on how to choose when there’s a choice, on how to react when something happen to you.

It can be two or three paragraphs, or simple lines like these

  • Always choose the right thing to do
  • Loved ones are my priority
  • Me Me Me
  • etc

For those with religion, it is advisable to let the religion be your ultimate policy.

The Fun Part
Here comes the fun part. Unless it is based on religion, you are allowed to change the policy anytime you see fit. Record however every time you change the policy. You need to do this because you must be accounted for everything you did based on the policy. Let me give you an example

Let say you started your policy with “Me Me Me”. Which is clear that whatever you are going to do with your life must be all about you. Maybe after a year, you realized that you are happier if you make your spouse happy. Then change your policy to “Me Me Spouse” and so on.

Conclusion – The most important thing about policy is that you must abide to it. This is a must. If you are not a good law abiding person, maybe you can create a policy on how to bend the rule 🙂

– I wonder –
What is your current policy when you have a problem?

——— Personal Note ———–
Totally unrelated to the post, I would like to wish my dearest wife (which is popularly known here as the mrs) “Happy Birthday Dear”. I would have given you a nice present. But I don’t think anything can top the one given by Allah for us, our beloved Zafirah 🙂

I pray for your happiness every second of my life. Amiin

365 days ago, I wrote – Why You Shouldn’t Be Depressed On Birthdays

Photo Credit – Fly Again

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Problem

Summary – 11 simple steps to solve problem eficiently

What’s life without some challenge right? The truth is we are bound to encounter some bump in our life, some problem to be solved. We are doing it all the time, most of the time problem solving will come naturally just like breathing air. We just see a problem, we know exactly how to approach it.

Allow me to add some additional steps on how to solve problem. A few steps that I think equally important but often forgotten..

1) Smile. The first thing you need to do is to smile. Seriously when you smile at a problem. Any problem will look easier to solve. Trust me on this.

2) Is it really a problem? Ask this question first before you attempt to solve it. Sometimes it may look like a problem, giving you stress like a problem but it really is not. An example is when you want to get a slimmer body. Before you rush to buy a diet pills, check your BMI first. You may end up knowing that you are actually at your most optimum weight.

3) Define your problem, then redefine it one more time. Most of the time the problem is not that you have an insomnia, it’s the sound of that drop of water in your bathroom.

4) Consider Do-Nothing approach. Some problem is better left unsolved. An example would be going to work when it’s raining heavily, (you have no car or a rain coat).. the best approach is just to do nothing and wait for the rain to stop.

5) Occum’s Razor Principle. The principle basically says that when all the condition remain constant, the simplest solution tend to be the best ones. Simply explained, most of the time, the solution to a problem is actually simple. You want to be rich, more saving less spending (My More & Less Concept)

6) Google. By google, I’m not saying we should search online. It can very well be offline. Human has been around for thousands of years. I truly believe any problem in the world at any moment has happened before and thus the solution is already there. We just need to know how to look for it.

7) One step backward. Usually a problem will comes with stress. The longer it takes to solve a problem, the more stressful it will become. Whenever you are feeling more stressful with the problem, stop right there. Take one step backward. Leave your thinking cap behind.

Yes, some mind work more efficiently with pressure, some doesn’t. If you are in the latter group, taking that calming step backward (literally) and observe the problem in a different way. Just like a person hiding behind a rock, When you move he move. There’s no way you can see him unless you look from a helicopter.

8] Sleep on it. For those who might not be familiar, when we sleep, our subconscious mind will work on all our problems. And that is why, problems usually don’t feel that critical in the early morning as compared to last night. The idea is to present the problem in our head. Not to think the solution of the problem before you sleep. This will only cause you to have difficulty sleeping.

9) Cryogenic the problem. In sci-fi movie, people often undergo cryogenic procedure when they have incurable disease, and they are hoping that in the future, the medical technology will be so advance that that disease will be curable. If that problem is not urgent, why not keep it unsolved for a while. Who knows, in time we will be better equipped to solve it.

10) Some problems are not meant to be solved. Do you know that there are millions of black hole in the galaxy. If one comes as close to earth as the sun from the earth, we will be sucked into the black hole. You can worry all your life about this, but why? We can’t solve this problem, so just leave it be.

11) Solution equals bigger problem? So you have found a solution. Now think again, what will this solution affect. If the solution will pose another greater problem, isn’t it better to just live with the smaller problem instead?

/end list

– I wonder –
Any other ideas on how to solve problems?

———– Personal Note ———–
I would like to welcome all bloggers from AB Blogging Pack. You know who you are. You are invited to have a look at the about page for more information about the blog. It’s always a pleasure making new friends, and hopefully we can learn from each other 🙂 Enjoy 

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Summary – Everything is important.. The question is to whom?

I apologize for the long disappearance. As you may have known, I’m actually going to be a father any day now :). So, there a lot of things to do and to prepare. Again please accept my apology.

The other day, during the routine checkup, my wife was sent to the hospital due to some suspected problem. Believe it or not, we were there from 4pm to 11pm just to find out that everything is ok.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind waiting as long as the baby is fine. And I totally understand that my wife’s case can be considered as having the least priority since she’s just there for a further examination. It may be considered not important for the doctors, but to me, she is the most important. And that is why I don’t mind waiting that 7 hours.

Through out our life, we will face a lot of similar cases. Hundreds of things to do in so little hour. And there’s no other way to do this but to prioritize and do those that are more important first. We just can’t do everything in the same time. But still, that least important thing, may be the most important thing to somebody else.

  • A short nap to someone who has been working 48 hours straight. Other people may see taking a short nap is not important, but to that person, he may get very upset if he just can’t get that sleep
  • Spending time together with your husband. For the husband he may feel that it is not necessary since they are living in the same house. She can meet him anytime. So he brings back work from the office. However, for the wife, the most important thing is she need that after-work time to maybe watch a movie together etc. This is what important to her.

Conclusion – What seems to be not important to us, may very well be the only thing that is important to someone else. We just need to consider that.

– I wonder –
Any other scenario that shows exactly this?

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Minifinger

Summary – Don’t lie to yourself, you’ll know

When people actually say “think positive”, what comes to your mind. Let say you were fired by your boss from work, what would you say to yourself?

  • Everything will be okay
  • I will definitely get another job in a few days
  • This is a good thing for me

Any other answers? For me, all these answers are a good example of a more positive thinking. Trying to look at the positive side of things. They are far much better than –

  • I’m going to die of starvation
  • I’m such a loser
  • Everyone hates me

Don’t you agree? However, when you think about it. Do you really know that things will be okay? Do you really know that you will get another job ASAP? And is it really a good thing to be sacked from a company?

The truth is all those words are only words to calm yourself down. It is always better to be calm and positive than panicky and negative. However, they are still basically lies we tell ourselves. And deep down inside, we actually know that.

Now that’s my friend is why positive thinking is always very hard to do, and sometimes it will do more harm than good. Unless of course you know the proper way of positive thinking..

The actual proper way to an effective positive thinking is to acknowledge what has happened first.

In this specific example, we must first acknowledge that we are fired from the job. Never try to comfort us by saying that the company made the biggest mistake by sacking you, or that you will get better job etc.

Acknowledge first that you are fired. It’s real and whatever it is, it’s done. Whether you want to believe it or not, you are now jobless. And whatever future maybe will depend ENTIRELY on how you react to this.

Once you had acknowledge this, I can assure you your fear of being fired will reduce drastically. Because you’ve dealt with the issue. You can now move on by planning what exactly should you do to overcome this problem.

That is positive thinking – the way of thinking that will benefit you. Not the lies you told yourself for comfort. Let say you tell yourself that you will get a job in 2 weeks. And unfortunately you remain jobless for over a year now, just imagine the damage done to your mind with the frustration.

Rule of thumb : Positive thinking is when you said something to yourself that will make good things happen.

Examples of positive thinking words

  • I know it will hurt, but I have no time for that. I will fight with all my energy to watch my baby grow. To teach her everything I know about life and see her be the smartest girl on the planet. (To be said when fighting for life during delivery)
  • I fail the exam, which means I am given a second opportunity to fix my life. I now know exactly what it takes to succeed.
  • Accidents happened to me as a reminder that I need to improve my driving skills. Good thing it is only minor accident

Examples of positive thinking that lies

  • This will not hurt.
  • I am going to excel next time
  • It’s not my fault the accident happened. I’m just not lucky

Examples of negative thinking

  • If I die, my baby will still have her father
  • I’m stupid
  • Some people are just not meant to drive

———- Personal Note ———-
I actually dedicate this post to my wife, the mrs. She is now in her 9th month of pregnancy. And a lot of things come to her mind now, both positive and negative. Can’t blame her since this is our first baby.

Mothers, any comforting words for her? please

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