There are thousands of self improvement blogs (SIB) in the world. And we may have been following them religiously. I wonder though how many will actually remember what has been read about 10 minutes later. It’s a disease actually to spend time filtering information (reading) and at the end of the day, no action was done. Are you SIB immuned?

We all know the value of articles posted in these blogs, and how they are often practical and valuable tips. However, when you are immuned to SIB, nothing written actually prove valuable to you. Listed below are 4 signs to look for to avoid being one.

1) Clueless Information Addict
I admit, I am addicted to information. It is very satisfying learning new things, collecting this and that over the internet. Clueless information addict will do exactly that, but they don’t know what to do with the information. We read 20 over SIB but in the end, we remain the same, without applying what we read? I know I’m one.

Recommendation:

• Regularly cut down your RSS feed. Only subscribe to those you really benefit from.
• Learn the art of text scanning.
• Set up a plan immediately to make use of the information you have.

2) Day dreamer
“That person is living his dream, this person is the very definition of success. If only I can be like him”. These are some of the most common things a day dreamer will think about. They will read successful story from successful people and dream about becoming one. There’s nothing wrong with that except day dreamer usually forget to work on their dream.

Recommendation:

• Change that day dream to goals and give deadline.
• Work out practical means to achieve that goal. Baby step is the best way.
• Keep track and review any mistakes along the way.

3) Brain Tired
There are always new things to learn in self improvement. However there are a group of people who just refuse to take note on things highlighted. It can be very annoying sometimes when thousands of bloggers had written on ways to improve productivity and then this person just refuse to work on the suggestion and still asking for other EASIER methods without even trying them.

Recommendation:

• There are no other ways. The only way we can be more knowledgable at things is to learn them.
• There’s a reason why most bloggers have search function embedded in their blogs.
• Start somewhere, and work from there.

4) God Syndrome
Some people do believe that there’s nothing more you can teach him, that if there’s anything.. you should come to him for answer. Yes, there are experts out there. But that doesn’t mean anyone else’s point of view is rubbish. It is a wonder why they even read blog in the first place.

Recommendation:

• There’s nothing wrong with being humble. Your authority will not deteriorate, in fact more people will respect you.
• The same with other thing, you can only get better if you faced a better person.

Conclusion – The reason we visit self improvement blogs is to read them and try to get something from them. Most importantly is to learn practical tips to better our life. So what’s practical about this entry? To put it simply, when we can avoid all the 4 signs, we will be more goal oriented, be better networker, and hopefully be one step ahead to a better life.

– I wonder –
Anything else you might want to add?

The following is a story forwarded to me via email. I’m not claiming it is true, but the idea is there :). It’s Sunday, enjoy!

This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its Customer-Care Executive. A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:

“This is the second time I have written to you, and I don’t blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night.but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we’ve eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It’s also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won’t start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I’m serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds: “What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?” “

The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood.

He had arranged to meet the man just after dinnertime, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough,after they came back to the car, it wouldn’t start. The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.

Now the Engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man’s car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: he jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to drive back and forth etc.In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why?

The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup.

All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor. Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn’t start when it took less time.

Eureka – Time was now the problem – not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: “vapour lock”. It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapour lock to dissipate.

/end story

Remember: Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution with cool thinking.

Don’t just say its “IMPOSSIBLE” without putting a sincere effort. Observe the word “IMPOSSIBLE” carefully. Looking closer you will see, “I’M POSSIBLE”…

What really matters is really your attitude and your perception.

Please accept my apology for the record-breaking 3 days of no new post here. There had been some major breakdown in my mill for the last few days. I had to attend to it can only return home very late at night. And by then all I can think of is the bed (very tired)

I think I am now officially addicted to having you guys read my articles. Thank you for visitting. Rest assured, things will go back to normal starting tomorrow.

So see you guys tomorrow kay 🙂

I was actually writing another post when suddenly I realized something. Most of life’s problem can be settled by the keyword “more and less”. Hopefully this list will help elaborate the idea.

How to have a a healthier body?

• Less unhealthy food, more exercise

How to get things done?

• Less idling, more systematic work done

How to be more understanding?

• Less talk, more listening

How to be a happier you?

• Less negativity, more positivity

How to become rich?

• Less expenditure, more income

How to have a meaningful life?

• Less you, more others

How to achieve dream?

• Less dreaming, more action

How to excel in exam?

• Less wasting time, more study

How to be successful?

• Less mistakes, more results

How to live longer?

• Less dying, more living

/end list

You may be saying… Duh! 🙂 But seriously when you think about it, it does make sense. It all boils down to these two term, more and less.

Allow me to explain. Let’s take example 2 – How to get things done. Don’t you think that the only thing that deteriorate our productivity is procrastination and lack of system? If we can minimize procrastination and build a more systematic way of doing things, basically nothing will stop us from getting things done.

Once we know this, we must go deeper, and ask how exactly can we reduce procrastination? What other system can we apply? Unfortunately the answers to that must be researched ourself.

So, what’s the importance of knowing this?

Guess what, even in its general form, we are actually halfway from solving our problems. We already know where to start. And knowing where to start is basically a solution to every problems on earth.

Try it with other problems / questions in your life. Maybe you can try to come up with the solution for these questions

1) How to make a person likes you?
2) How to be a good man?

———– Personal Note ———–
I’m currently in Kuala Lumpur, visitting my mother and taking the mrs to her now-weekly medical checkup. She is now 8 months in her pregnancy. We had checked via ultra sound to determine the gender of our baby, but apparently the little one is quite creative in hiding that vital part of his/hers. So we are still unsure of his/her gender.

But, the mrs had bought quite a lot of pink colored baby clothes 🙂

Photo Credit : Fran-Cis-Ca