57 - New Blog

Moving house again. Here.

56 - Sudden Insight

Planning really, really is the key.

But planning can be very, very time-consuming.

Therefore the planning process must itself be done efficiently. The mind must focus during planning.

55 - Kids Goal

Applying Post 53 again, to the kids:

STEPS ONE TO THREE
For the rest of the year, I will constantly provide the kids with a rich learning environment and plenty of high-quality learning experiences, to help them grow and blossom.

STEP FOUR
1. Read constantly to them.
2. Take them out to the playground to play & exercise.
3. Play games with them, encouraging them to focus and concentrate on one activity at a time.
4. Encourage them to draw and colour.
5. Expand their vocabulary.
6. Expose them to math by playing games involving counting, sorting & patterns.
7. Take them out to interesting places.
8. Get them interested in puzzles and toys that require thinking.
9. Engage them musically by singing and encouraging them to sing.
10. Apply Doman's encyclopaedic methods, not by flash cards, but by Powerpoint.
11. Engage them in art & craft activities.
12. Introduce them to the Mandarin language.
13. Encourage motor skills through ball games.

STEP FIVE
Do at least one activity per day.

54 - Career Success

Applying Post 53 to my career:

STEPS ONE TO THREE
I want to be promoted in early 2007.

STEPS FOUR & FIVE

First:

1. Convince both bosses that I overwhelmingly deserve promotion.
2. Make it easy for them to convince their boss that I overwhelmingly deserve promotion.

Then, break it down:

3. Deliver outstanding performance, clearly superior to my peers.
4. Make sure that both bosses and their boss know it.

Define Outstanding Performance:

5. Handle complex deals well
6. Handle many complex deals
7. Handle important platform-building projects well
8. Handle many important platform-building projects

How Will The Bosses and Their Boss Know It?

9. Get involved in the biggest, most complex deals around. The rest follows naturally.

How to Get The Complex Deals & Platform-Building Projects

10. Volunteer.
11. Get rid of low-value work, freeing myself up to handle bigger things.
12. Create my own platform-building projects.
13. Do great work for the people who bring in the complex deals, so that they come automatically back to me for more.

How to Get Rid of Low-Value Work

14. Pass them to colleagues lower down the food chain.
15. Resist new low-value work.
16. Think big picture, and come up with permanent solutions to recurring issues in low-value work.
17. Complete low-value work fast.

How to Handle Complex Deals Well

18. Concentrate on results and efficiency.
19. Display strong technical expertise and knowledge.
20. Drive the deal, don't be driven. Move fast.

How to Display Strong Technical Expertise and Knowledge

21. Read a lot. Do research.
22. Organise knowledge and precedents well.

How to Create My Own Platform-Building Projects

23. Identify my key areas of responsibility.
24. Identify the biggest recurring issues in each area.
25. Do a project to clear up these issues.

53 - How to Succeed in Everything You Ever Want To Do

This is from Brian Tracy. Simple, rather self-evident and yet likely to be devastatingly effective, if you merely get around to applying it.

Step One - Decide Exactly What You Want.
Step Two - Write it Down.
Step Three - Set A Deadline.
Step Four - Make A List of Every Task You Can Think Of That You Need To Do to Achieve your Goal.
Step Five - Organise Your List Into A Plan.
Step Six - Take Action on Your Plan.
Step Seven - Do Something Every Day That Moves You Towards The Goal.

52 - Start With Imagination. Add a Dash of Optimism, A Few Pieces of Good Luck and a Lot of Hard Work ....

... where could I be in five years?

I could have earned my first million. Won the YAY award, and GPA two or three times. Published a book; maybe two. Daddy of three happy, brilliant children. Very fit, very healthy. A real meditator, and finding more peace and happiness. Creative, innovative and precise - having unlocked a greater portion of my mind's hidden powers. A top industry expert in my area of work. Regularly jamming music at a gig somewhere. A marathoner. And a very, very well-known commentator on politics and current affairs.

51 - Kids' Learning Log

50 - Investment Log

49 - Meditation Log

48 - Work Learning Log

47 - Fitness Log

46 - Kids

Spent some quality time with the kids last night. Little Boy drew a face - his first-ever real picture. We played bricks, read sentences, messed around with formboards.

45 - 360 Degrees Look at Life

This is going to be a rather long post because I have quite a lot of things to get out of my head and down on paper. As I write this I’m deliberately trying to frame everything in a more positive light, because sigh, I do need some psyching up.

So here I go, Mr Positive himself.

Lots of opportunities for growth and development are popping up everywhere in my life now. I am frankly feeling a little overwhelmed, but then these are good kinds of problems to have. You don’t grow unless you are yanked out of your comfort zone once in a while.

That’s what’s happening to me right now and importantly it is I who is choosing to be yanked. No one says that I must do all the things I’m doing – I chose this. My negative feelings derive, I think, more from the fact that there are so many exciting opportunities and avenues to explore right now that I cannot effectively explore all of them at one go. But that as I said is a good kind of problem.

Typing fast now, to get everything out of my head.

C, PB – Checked out their website but it doesn’t say much. I think the work could be interesting. Just went through the PB stuff at my own workplace. There would be quite a lot for me to learn – the learning curve would definitely be there. I have to remember to check out our own materials in greater depth at another time. Meanwhile no point thinking about the C, PB job any further.

CS – Readership sailed to an all-time high but we know why, don’t we. T*mmy. I think I was hitting an all-time high anyway but T*mmy pushed it to where it finished in February (11,000). I think I’m putting a lot of positive energy into CS but I think maybe I need to cool off. It’s eating too much of my time & brain juice. I should keep the purpose of CS firmly in sight. It’s not just about numbers. I’ll blog when I really have something to say.

Poetry (1) – Next step is to work with E of EP because that’s the honourable thing to do and besides I really don’t think that E of FF is going to move. Just forget E of FF, and move on. Priority now is to focus on the manuscript and the 15 May deadline. Immediate next step is to talk to E of EP on Friday and I should plan for that. Will put out more untested stuff out on RE and refer E of EP to it and see if he thinks they’re any good.

Poetry (2) – Everything else – new poems, GPA 2007, etc, just put aside for now.

Running – JPMCC is coming up. 5.6 km. Closing deadline for signing up is 31 March. I just signed up for this. 26 April is the event proper. Now I have a definite target to train for.

Kids – Here I must not compromise and I must strive to spend quality time with them even when I feel stretched in other areas of my life. I had specially chosen and set aside toys that I want to play with them – but I still haven’t touched them yet! I have not been giving Little Girl that much of my time & attention lately. This has to change.

Finance in a Nutshell – The structured reading programme doesn’t work. I need to read stuff that’s more specifically and directly related to what I am immediately tackling at work. But I also need some structure; otherwise there will be no discipline. I need to keep track of my career learning, both on-the-job and through self-study.

Career - Wrestling with this at the moment. I've been mindmapping about this and I got some clarity. Basically I'm aiming to learn; and I'm aiming for promotion; and both require me to put more focus and get more interested in my own work. I've basically worked out five key things I need to do for the rest of the year:

1. Get more efficient.
2. Build my knowledge and expertise.
3. Carve out some niches for myself - gold, repacks, REITS, SG.
4. Increase profile with key persons.
5. Contribute more ideas at department meetings.

44 - Running

Ran today. 4.5 km at a quick pace.

43 - Readjustment

Plans will be made in my notebook.

42 - State of Mind

Been feeling edgy and nervous this week. Think it's work-related. It's really piling up. I need to get a hold on this.

I have too many things growing in my life simultaneously. It's difficult to keep track. In a way, it's a good sort of problem, I suppose. But I keep feeling that I may drop the ball somewhere.

Need to do some readjustment.

41 - Mind & Body

Ran last night (a short one, but with speed) and meditated briefly this morning. Also spent some time reading with Little Boy yesterday.