Lately, I have started playing golf and Forex as I have been playing table tennis for many years. Doing things on a routine basis have erased the excitement. Despite doing different things, I believe the way to success remains the same after some reflection. Foundation and flexibility are key factors I found would lead to success. Of course, I acknowledge that there are other reasons which are also critical in contributing to success.  

Fundamentals are foundation of success. Without basics, one can’t go far i.e you cant reach professional level. If you are not excelling in what you are doing, you are wasting your time and effort doing it. I recommend you quit what you are doing then.

No expert shares the same style. Waldner against Ma Lin and Tiger Vs Mickelson are living examples. In Forex, there are technical and fundamental approaches. You can only excel if you are comfortable with your style (of course, thats after grasping the basics).

If you are planning to learn something new, my lesson to you is to have a strong foundation. On another note, idols and experts are a reference which you can learn from BUT not COPY.

Apart from the wealth they have accumulated, they share ’something’ which made them super-rich.

They are experts in their field of areas. Regardless of sports or business, money comes to you if you are an ace. Demand for ace is very high as the availablity of expert is very little. As such, this marks up the price of such talents.

How does talent come about? From my perspective, it is not just hard work. There are a few other factors which are necessary as a combination to make someone an ace. Passion, unconventional mentality and determination combine to produce a star. Someone can be special because he is unique. He possesses the x-factor that many do not exhibit. This x-factor comes from the passion/goal which then displays the charisma in him.

The mentioned names are unique. How many can dribble like Ronaldo with speed? How many can fight like Jackie Chan with humor? Their ability to combine their skills are not sudden. We can see such skills because they think out of the box to create such sensational ability (that we have never seen). Someone else in their field is going to outshine them with out-of- the box thinking but we do not know when and what new skills they are going to introduce and wow the audience/consumers.

In conclusion, there will constantly be improvement in every industry as long as there are passionate and innovative people in the field.

Foreign Exchange or Forex is the trading of currency. It is a form of investment or even gambling as some put it. Like every other thing that you excel, it takes practise and the same goes for forex. Many have promised Forex to be instant road to riches but cloud the fact that it can be instant road to bankruptcy as well. Forex is like stocks BUT it is much more volatile than stocks. Daily fluctuation can be in the range of 100 pips. 1 Pip is equvalent to $10 USD in a standard account. In micro account, 1 pip is 10 cents.

I made a major mistake yesterday when US released its Farmroll data. It unexpectedly reported a loss of 85K jobs. This is really shocking as the USD has been growing in strength since November. Logically speaking, with a curency rising in strength, it means its economy is recovering. A recovery, by logical reasoning should be hiring. Nevertheless, it is still my ignorant of not putting a STOPLOSS. Due to my folly, I lost 50 pips (Fortunately I am playing the Micro Account). I should have set a stop loss which would definitely reduce my losses.

Hence I would like to reiterate the importance of stop-loss. Experience is the hard but effective way of learning and I have experienced it.

From my conversation with my friends, I came to a conclusion – More teens are adopting the Get-Rich Fast mentality. They have seen investment, be it in stocks, futures as an instant road to riches. Such instances were never present or at least rare in the past 10 years. Could it signify that the average household income has risen? Or is it that teens are getting more adventurous (perhaps too rash) at an earlier age.

In my opinion, investment is gambling but what differentiates it from lottery is this calculated risk involved.

Are they aware of the potential risk or are they overwhelmed by the potential rewards?

Investments are not simple and they involve risks. In fact, investments require high level of analysis (technical and fundamental).

Investments are not for everyone but it is worth a try at your own risks.

My concluding statement – Investments can bring one wealth (when handled properly) or debts if mis-managed.

There are many ways to motivate ourselves. Bosses use carrots or punishments/fear. Teachers exercise the same principle. Even as individual, we, most of the times, reward ourselves when we have done a good job. Such techniques have already been in use as long as 1000yrs ago.

While it is important to have external motivations, we have to recognise the shortcomings & more importantly, acknowledge the power of intrinsic motivation.

External motivation achieves its intended effectiveness under the following conditions:

a) Occasional

b) Surpasses the individual’s reward expectation

The direct inference from this is that one has to increase the amount of external motivation (like monetary bonus) to motivate an individual by the same extent. This is because over time, the individual will get sick of the same amount and he goes back to square one.

Punishment is also another form of motivation but I would not touch on it.

Fast forward to the objective of this post – Desire. Desire comes from one’s mind. This is not a unique ability but an ability which can be found in everyone. As long as one decides to execute this powerful tool, he is likely to achieve the intended outcome. Yet, desire is not a magic wand. Follow up actions are required. So how do you tap on this power?

1st: Work out your target

2nd: Activate the desire

3rd: Necessary actions needed to achieve the goal

4th: Work and improve on the actions

*Desire without (correct) action would be fruitless.*

How did top sportsmen, scholars and other famous people ace in their field? Desire is the answer. You have found the answer but are you able to apply it?

Most sportsmen hate injuries. Injury means no training. Sportsmen love to train but injuries prevent them from doing so.

Recently, I am into running. I am intending to participate in the New Balance Real Run 2009. Ironically, my preparation for the run seems to be the spoiler of the run. I started running 4.8km where there is 600m uphill. 1 week ago, I started to feel pain in my ankle when I walk or exercise. Perhaps, my physical conditions was not compatible with the sudden urge to run (I have not ran for years). 

If amateur/leisure runners like me hate injury, then to top sportsmen (regardless which sports), injury is their enemy. Look at the Shanghai Tennis Open, top players such as Andy Roddick and Del Potro were forced to withdraw due to injuries. In the any sports context, no sportsman would want to be injured during their Big Games.

So, what could I have done to overcome this ‘enemy’.

Most importantly, stretch prior to exercise.

Stretching/warm up is crucial as it loosens the muscles. Apart from that, it will increase heart-rate and body temperature and pump more blood to the body. Perhaps, I didnt warm up sufficiently which explains the inflammed tendons.

Exercise progressively. I suppose I wouldnt be experiencing ankle pain now if I ran 100m of uphill instead of 600m uphill suddenly. Our body has to adapt to the conditions gradually. We cannot change the environment we are working in SUDDENLY. We need to give our body time to adapt to it.

Most, of the time, such theory is available online. Yet, injuries still occur as we take it for granted. Ultimately, we are responsible for our own health.

Sports have always been marred by drugs, match-fixing and etc.  Match-fixing is a norm. Sportsmen (potential and current stars) may have been forced to lose an important competition before. Whether the sportsmen have the courage to uphold sportsmanship and report the incident speaks alot on the sportsmen involved. The recent scandal involves Renault F1 Team. This post seeks to discuss the various possible consequences of the race-fixing incident in Singapore 2008.

I truly respect Nelson Piquet Jr. How many sportsmen have compromised the integrity of sports for fame/results? The figure is unknown but definitely horrifying. Yet, many managers and coaches continue to commit this despicable act for wealth. This act is detrimental to sports and I believe many join me to condemn that. What is the purpose of sports? (I have written a post on Purpose of Sports and it can be viewed at http://anythi.wordpress.com/2009/02/28/purpose-of-sports/.)

Sponsors, a main component in any racing team, pulled out immediately upon the news of the scandal. It is estimated that Renault is losing its ING sponsorship worth close to $70 million dollars.

How about the drivers and working committee of Renault? How do they feel? Are they marginalised?

How about the SG race in 2008? Could other drivers had won instead of Alonso?

How about the Championship title? Could Massa have won?

Could Piquet or someone else have lost their lives? Can’t believe they would compromise safety for …er… fame.

Where has Integrity, Sportsmanship, Excellence (there are many more) gone to?

In my point of view, the respective associations have to set severe rules to deter match-fixing or we can expect more of such incidents.

The latest tennis competition, US Open 2009, featured hot stars like Andy Murray, Sharapova and many more. Yet, the very next day after they lost, Sports headlines read, ‘Murray Crashes Out’, Sharapova Upset by Teenage Player’… etc.

Was it pure coincidence that Murray, Sharapova and Roddick were under a spell and forced to lose? If that’s was the case, then I would have to learn the black magic as well. Rather, I believe it has to do with their mentality.

So what’s the mindset that causes them to lose? In my opinion, it is purely Over-confidence. Give some thought about it, how is it possible for a newbie to beat an experienced player? It is possible if the newbie is an upcoming star & Possible IF he has the potential to pressure and force the top player to make mistake then he could win. Otherwise, it is just the result of over-assurance.

So what exactly happen when they are over-confident? They normally start out fine but lose the motivation to win. They dismiss the points lost as opponent is good (Some top sportsmen just cant swallow the fact that others are better than them). Slowly, they would exhibit their below normal standard. By then, their muscles and mentality have relaxed to a non-competitive mode. They would only start to chase when they were about to lose the whole game (but its too late). This sounds like the famous “Hare & Tortoise Race” where the hare displayed too much confidence that led to it’s loss.

Yet, there is another reason for the loss. Most top players require constant motivation regardless of internal or external motivations to keep them going. Top players play too many competitions nowadays. A very possible consequence is numbness in competition. This means that the result has no impact on the players. As such, they could very well give up on minor competitions, or even give up when faced with a slight challenge.

Could these reasons explain their ‘upsets’?

This post seeks to spill the possible causes of waste and the difference between the waste a decade ago and today’s waste (there is a huge divergence). Even within the community and various income groups, the definition of waste is dissimilar. I thought of writing this post after watching the programme highlight of Channel Newsasia about E-waste (electronic waste).

Unsurprisingly, the amount of waste has been increasing ever since Ice Age. Due to increasing population and greater consumption, there is no doubt more rubbish. However, some rubbish may not necessary be rubbish! As people around the world become more affluent, their desires soar as much as their income. This disease has the effect of generating more waste. Environmentally speaking, this obviously has negative impacts on our society. Think about it, the common ways to eliminate waste are incinerate or landfill. These approaches to dispose waste are environmentally unfriendly. Yet, these are the only available means to do so now (for majority of the waste). More waste is tantamount to more air/land pollution.

It is obvious that we need to reduce waste. But DO and most importantly, WILL people care? Regardless of whether they have a moral conscience, I still have to continue with this post. I believe that our desires and greedy nature are the culprits of waste. The culprits are getting from bad to worse. How many times have your family changed your household and high-technological appliances (handphone, computer, notebook, television) in the past 1 year? Thinking back, was there a need to change them? What was the reason your family changed it? Vitally, were the devices spoilt or in a working condition? If you really had to change your equipments, could you have donated your old technology rather than throwing it away?

Could technology be the trigger to more waste? In the past where there were limited technology, was wastage such a huge problem? Or is it the culture and education system that shaped the thrifty nature of our forefathers? Or was it that most of us were poor in the olden days which curbed our spending?

Ideally, we should only change our gadgets when they are damaged. Even if they are damaged, we would try to fix them first. However, our habits has changed together with our culture. We constantly try to keep up with fashion. Everyone is a victim to fashion to some extent (even myself). This gives raise to the surging waste. Yet, there is no incentive to arrest the problem. It has to do with sense of reward and pride when you purchase a up-to-date gadget. The fantastic feeling when people and friends question in envy about how much and where you get the technology.

It is a challenge to change our habit especially when it is created by our culture. The environmentalists have been persuading countries to curb their consumption of oil but to no avail. Furthermore, rational human beings trust evidence so much that we have to see the destruction before executing any policy. Do we have to wait for D-day before we stop wastage?

Ever thought about what happens to you after you die?

I find it very scary. Regardless religious theory or scientific theory about the aftermath of death, I find it surprising and scary to lose touch with the mortal world. Some say your soul would be with you while some say you would recarnate. Whichever you choose, you wouldnt be able to communicate with your family or friends just like how you did when you were alive. The concept of losing the touch with mortal world is indeed frightening yet we cannot do anything to it.

I cant post anything on this question since I do not know the answer. However, I believe  most would treasure their love ones and without taking things for granted if we know what will happen to us after we die.

Would it be possible for someone to explain the actual path we are heading after we die?