Of Conversations & Story Telling

Good Morning 🙂

I hope everyone is doing ok after the weekend. Yes it’s Monday and the start of another work week, but remember, you are in charge of how you feel. It’s hard, but try to be positive this manic Monday.

I’m not working today, worked the past three days at Machines. I’m loving the job but my legs might not feel the same way, feeling pretty tired today, woke up at 8 and didn’t go for a swim. Yea, but I’ll do it tomorrow! Well, now my good friend Cafe Mocha is keeping me company here at Starbucks as I think of something to write about today 😉

I got it, today I’m going to write about reading.

I know a lot of you are going to be, “but I got no time to read” or “I don’t like reading” or whatever other excuses there are. Whether your want to read is up to you (unless you’re my little brother) but the benefits are very much underrated. I would like you to check out the quote below please,

“a mind once stretched by a new idea can never return to its original dimensions.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

Think about it for a second. I love watching tv but really, after a while I start thinking to myself, ” how does this benefit me?”. Sure a little tv a day helps me unwind, but really, do we stop at an hour? Reading a good book, or a good magazine exposes us to ideas and stimulates our minds. Reading a good biography is like having a conversation with the author. And we all need such conversations to keep out minds sharp.

“Drink Coffee with Gandhi.” Robin Sharma

“Reading a book by someone you respect allows some of their brilliance to rub off on you.” Robin Sharma

One of the main factors in my tremendous recovery over the past few weeks has been reading. My in depth conversation David Schwartz about The Magic of Thinking Big revitalised my spirit and further conversations with Robin Sharma and Richard Branson further fuelled my spirit. They have exposed me to so many new concepts and ideas that have opened my mind up. They have been the main inspiration behind a lot of my articles.

My Top List of books to read
1. 7 habits of highly effective teens – Seaon Covey
2. Screw it Let’s do it Expanded – Richard Branson
3. Tuesday with Morrie
4. the Greatness Guide 1 & 2 – Robin Sharma
5. The Magic of Thinking Big – David Schawrtz
6. Your Money Ratios- Charles Farrell

And when it comes to reading, I have nothing against story books, but try to mix it up with good books that will help you grow. Autobiographies. Personal development books. Etc. of course there are story books that help you grow as well, by all means go for it, but don’t forget to make time to have a conversation with someone like Gandhi or Martin Luther King or Richard Branson. And by all means mix it up with having JK Rowling or Rick Riordan tell you a story, because having conversations with only certain people will add a certain monotony after a while.

So anyway, go and start that book you’ve been procrastinating about. Don’t start any new tv shows! And hey, if you’ve got nothing on your book shelf, take a look at my list above.

Have a great day,

Straight From The Heart

Arkay6

Ghost Protocol

Good Sunday everyone, hope you are all doing good. I’ll be working today. Surrounded by what I love… Apple products.

Now, I’ll be the first to say that I Love my gadgets, my iPhone, my iPad, my MacBook etc. they help me stay organised, help me stay productive and help me unwind. But that doesn’t mean that i should give them my undivided attention. I believe that we need to have gadget time outs, this is related to my thinking time post. Our gadgets are wonderful but they have tendency to interrupt social life and disrupt thinking and /or productive time. When having dinner or a conversation, put the phone away. Whoever is trying to contact you can wait until you’re done with dinner or until the conversation is over. don’t interrupt your Physical contact with another person because you’ve got an iMessage or a FB notification or a tweet.

As my dad always says: “time and place”.

This is especially important for my generation.

Now those who have to stay by their phones for work, set aside a Electronic time out to have some quality bonding with your family and give you your own time. Your family needs it and most important, you’ll need it; To get your best ideas, to think better, to be more productive, to remain sane.

I haven’t perfected this yet, but I am certainly making progress. I hope you will join me in setting aside at least an hour a day, gadget free, for family and then another hour for your own, undisturbed, thinking time…. A Room of One’s Own. A time to go dark, covert; go Ghost Protocol and Black Ops. Go all Ninja.

You own your gadgets, not vice versa.

What better day to start than today? A Sunday.

have a great day,

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

Saturday Morning Reflection

Good morning everyone! How are all of you doing?

I had my first day of work yesterday and today is my second, as for my firstly, it was kept swinging from boring to fun, depending on how many customers there were at Machines. I sold 2 iPads, a few covers and a few screen protectors. So not too bad. Though my feet and knees hurt so damn much today and I’m feeling really tired, but I can do this…. Maybe just shorter shifts?

Haha. So today is Saturday and like last Saturday I’m going to do some reflecting. Interesting, my Cafe Mocha is a little off…

5 things to be grateful for this week.
1. I reached 20 followers on my blog
2. I got a job at Machines
3. I bumped into old friends, strengthened current ones and made new ones.
4. My family make sure I knew that they love me
5. It’s been another week of progress. That takes it to 5 weeks now.

Things that were good during the week
I wrote some of my new favourites articles this week, I’m really proud of some of my new ones. I woke up at 6 twice, had a Cafe Mocha everyday, eating to know the Starbucks staff at my normal place and my new place better. I’ve been pointing in the right direction to solve my uni issues. And it’s been a good week on a whole. And I didn’t watch much tv.

Things that weren’t as good.
Well, I could have placed less FIFA I guess, and I haven’t swam since Thursday, I’ve been more tired than usual and I kind of had a little relapse moment on Thursday, which I’m working on, I don’t want that to happen again. I didn’t visit my grandma. And there were to days that I let FIFA delay my sleeping time. I didn’t spend as much time as I should have with my mum and brother.

Hopes for the next week
First of all I hope that next week is better 🙂 I want to work 2-3 days a week and for starters 10-5, yesterday was 10-7 and that has taken quite a toll on my body. I want to make up at 6 every week day and swim. Make more friends at Monash. Keep taking steps forward in my uni issue. Meet up with my best friend more often, experiment with sleeping 7.5 hours, eat healthier, eat dinner earlier, have my morning in ‘Holy Hour’ everyday, especially weekdays and spend more time with my mum and brother.

Evaluations of goals.
So looks like I’m in line with most of my goals, i aimed to gain 15 followers for my blog, and I got 20. Thanks guys 🙂 I’ve been waking up before 8 everyday. Swam 4 times this week. Wrote a piece everyday. Finished 2 books. And is started working. Not too bad a week. 🙂

So now I hope that you will do your own little reflection for the end of this week. It doesn’t have to be complicated and long. Simple is good. Just as long as it means something to you.

I’ve got work in 40.

So here’s Arkay 6 singing off,

Straight From The Heart

Have A Great God Damn Saturday, and if you’re in MV, pop into Machines and say Hi. And I warn you now, No Discounts!

Haha 🙂

I Will Keep Moving Foward

Good morning everyone! My Cafe Mocha and I are coming to you live from Starbucks Mid Valley.

It’s an interesting scene here, never been to MV this early…. Ever. I’m sitting outside and just observing all the people walking about, the people chilling at Starbucks. Most of them being working people, actually, I think all of them, and I will somewhat be one of them.

I’m doing good today, it could be better, not feeling as great as the last few days. Feeling a little more tired actually, no its not because of the job, I’m nervous yes, a little scared but also excited. It’s a whole jumble of feelings, like now I’m feeling all calm and cool. It’s just this university issue that’s been hanging over me. When I was really sick, like down in the dumps, wanting to give up, feeling like shit, which was in January, I had to drop out of summer school and unfortunately I couldn’t do it cleanly, it was either fail the course or defer the exam, so I deferred the exam but I lost the 30% of the course as that part is course work etc and I didn’t do any of that work, i wasn’t in any shape to. I went for about 3-4 weeks, but I couldn’t think, my mind was so clouded due to the damn brain fog, etc so yea, it was hell, now I’m trying to sort that out because it’s an important subject and will impact my entire major. So it’s stressing me out a little, I’m just worried that this sort of stress would screw up all the progress ive made in the past 5 weeks, that the stress of sitting for an exam in August about a difficult subject that has had some changes this semester would be detrimental, i know i’ll Be ready for uni again in july, but Not for an exam, and the stress that comes with it, that soon after re-starting. But whatever happens, i’ll deal with it, if I have to delay my education a little longer, so be it, but I want that Major in Accounting. Anyway, I can’t do anything about it now, we’ll see how things go. May the Force Be With Me.

I really hope that didn’t put a damper in your morning, me venting like that. It’s just a little coincidental that the day after I get this news about uni that I wake up more tired than usual etc. but if I’ve learnt anything over the past few weeks, actually the past few years, is that it’s not about what happens to you in life, it’s about what you do about it.

I won’t let this be a damper on my Second Coming, on my rekindled spirit and this revival of mine. I will stay strong , I will keep writing, keep reading, keep waking early, keep drinking Cafe Mocha, keep swimming and keep moving forward.

Turbulence is normal. Just fight though it.

I will Keep Moving Forward, one step at a time, no matter what.

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

Facing Fears = Power

Good morning everyone,

For a change I’m writing from the Starbucks at Gardens, but still with my cafe mocha. 🙂

Today is a big day for me, I hope it all goes well.

On that note, I want to talk about the power that you get once you face your fears, once you’ve completed that task that you have been resisting. I’m actually pretty scared now, I’m going for a job interview after this, to get a sales position at Machines, hopefully Machines Gardens. I’m scared because I have never done this before, this is new to me. Have never had a real job before. Thoughts have been popping into my head. “what If I can’t do it?” “what of I don’t get it?” “do I really want it?””I can still cancel” “I don’t have to do it” bla bla bla.

But you know what, I want this job, It is a step in the right direction, I want to learn how an apple reseller works, so that maybe i can have my own franchise one day, I want to sell Apple products because I am passionate about them, I want the experience as i want to continue to grow but most importantly, I want to move forward. It’s been a great productive 5 weeks, and I want to continue that flow. I’ve been writing, reading, sleeping well, exercising, dabbled in investing, meeting people etc. I think I’ve mentioned before, this feels like my second coming.

All those questions and doubts, were coming from a place of fear, fear of failure, fear of the unknown. And I will face that fear because once its done…. It will give me power and confidence.

For example, yesterday I finally met a lecturer that I’ve been meaning to meet for a while, I put it off for so long cause I was scared, intimidated, worried etc etc. I was afraid I would mess up the meeting, but finally, yesterday, i just did it. I took the elevator up and met her and you know what? It was a great meeting. She has pointed me in the right direction to sort out my issues reading my Accounting Major and I have a meeting with the Director of Undergraduate Studies today. Hopefully she will be able to help me solve my problem. I’ve been procrastinating for so long simply because I didn’t want to face the fear of not being able to pursue Accounting, or having to delay my graduation by another semester and all those things. The phrase “Ignorance is Bliss” comes to mind, but ignoring the problems isn’t going to make them go away. No. That require conscious effort. Sometimes we run away from our fears so that we can pretend they’re not there, I sorry, but it’s time to wake up.

“I know of no more encouraging fact than th unquestionable ability of a human being to elevate their life by conscious endeavour.” Henry David Thoreau

So today, I’ve got two big steps to take, my first real job interview and a meeting at university. Both are big steps. And I am scared, but I’m not going to run away from this challenge. I will face it

And whatever happens, I will face that as well. If I don’t get the job so be it. If the meeting doesn’t go well I’ll extend my studies by another semester because failure is inevitable in the journey of life, you just have to make sure that the failure doesn’t stop you from moving forward. I’ve had enough of being scared, how about you?

“Fail Faster. Succeed sooner.” David Kelley

“Screw-ups are the mark of excellence.” Tom Peters

“twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do that by he ones you did.” mark twain

“the real risk lies in risked living.” robin sharma

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

Dreamers & Realists

“There are dreamers and there are realists in this world.

You’d think the dreamers would find the dreamers and the realists would find the realists but… more often than not, the opposite is true.

You see the dreamers need the realists to keep them from soaring too close to the sun.

And the realists… well, without the dreamers, they might not ever get off the ground.”

-Cameron, Modern Family (Episode: Punkin Chunkin)

A Room of One’s Own

Good morning everyone! I’m just feeling so damn pumped up, was listening to Flo Rida’s Good Feeling all the way to Monash and boy was it an amazing drive here. Thanks to my baby, Giselle, love you.

First of, I’d like to thank all of you for reading what I write on this little site of mine. It’s so amazing how just over 10 days ago I had less than 1000 all-time views and now it’s 2349. Thank you, you guys have been amazing!

Anyway to the topic of the day, A Room of One’s Own. I came across the term I while reading Robin Sharma‘s The Greatness Guide Part 2, and he attributes it to Virginia Woolf.

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” Martin Luther King Jr

Now what i think Robin meant through this idea is the concept of having your OWN space. It doesn’t have to be a physical space, but just a space in our head for you to be alone. For you to do your own think. Analyse your life, evaluate where you’re going, whether you’re in line with you values…. Reflection. I cannot emphasise this enough, it so so very important for everyone to do this. Having this time to think, it can be done anywhere as long as you’re comfortable and like it, whether it’s in the car, in your room, Starbucks, and so on. It’s just aye an hour of your day, preferably in the morning, for you to think.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Steve Jobs

So many of us are busy being busy, do you want to end up climbing the wrong mountain? Doing all that work for the wrong goal? That’s why this concept is so DAMN important. It’s a time when you walk away from The world, a time you find to avoid any and all distractions. You’ll be amazed at where your mind will wander of to. This little bit of your day will provide you with so much clarity that will definitely make you’re life easier, less clumsy, cluttered and messy.

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” Henry Ford

It won’t happen instantly, it’ll take time. Start by getting a journal, I use a Moleskine one cause I want it to last,and it looks good :), but you can use any book. Just leave it open in front of you with a pen in your hand. Listen to some chilled out music, or a motivational/inspirational podcast, and let your mind run free. Here are somethings to help you out.

Think about:
1: where do you want to be in a year.
2: what are your top 5 priorities.
3: what is your Genius? Your talents, skills, wtc
4: what are your top 5 values.
5: talk to yourself via writing.

I know that you probably dont have any reason to take my word for it, but please trust me, it has done wonders for me in the past 3 weeks. I was in such a shitty place a couple weeks back, and now I’m blogging everyday, waking up early, swimming, reading an hour a day, watching a lot less TV, making more friends… All these things I’ve been blogging about have made a world of difference to me… This could be my second coming? Steve jobs, Howard Schultz. 🙂 read my previous post A Rekindled Spirit.

“When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself.” Plato

Another point I must emphasise, ELECTRONIC BLACKOUT. I love gadgets, I social media, I love my iPad and I love my iPhone. But when it comes time to think, put them away. Don’t reply messages, don’t check FB, don’t tweet, don’t read emails, just think. In fact, do this when you’re socialising as well, but I’ll address that in another post.

Turn off everything, Go Ghost Prototcol, Go Dark, Go Covert Ops, Go Black Ops, Go Ninja.

When you’re in your Room of Your Own, Go dark. Tell all your emails, texts, notifications etc that you would like an hour break. That’s why is a lot better to do this in the morning. I like doing this at about 6am, like what I did today. my aim: 5am Thinking Time by the time I start university again. I’m not asking you to wake up at 5 or 6, but the Earlier it is, the less the potential distractions, which will make your Thinking Time more effective. But please, make sure you sleep enough. Don’t skimp on sleep, you can do it for the short term, like a week before an exam etc, but never for long periods, I wrote about this in a previous post, Waking Up Early & Sleeping Well and also check this one out, Getting to Greatness without Burning Out

“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.”
Voltaire

Clarity leads to Awareness leads to better Results. Robin Sharma

Have a Great Day Ahead,

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

BPL Round up

Good morning once again,

So yesterday was an incredibly dramatic end to the BPL season. I have never experienced an ending like that, it was so tense, so dramatic.

From the title race, to the race for the last automatic champion league qualifying spot (3rd place), to the battle at Merseyside and of course the battle for the great escape at the bottom of the pile.

First I’ll address the relegation battle, there was only one spot left and Bolton fell into. It’s a pity, I always liked Bolton, but after the battle QPR put up against City they deserve to stay up, though Joey Barton deserves to be banned from football. He has showed time and time again that he has problems, time to get rid of him.

“@SkySporIsNews: Its just been announced that Joey Barton is an unlockable character on Mortal Kombat.”

“@PremiershipUK: QPR’s Joey Barton assaults three Man City players – then claims ‘it was never a red’: Joey Barton coul… http://t.co/xcekDssr telegraph”

“@Football_Tweet_: Joey Barton is a plonker. Hit Carlos Tevez, kneed Sergio Aguero and threw a head at Vincent Kompany…”

Then to the battle to be the top at Merseyside, Everton beat the surging Newcastle to become the top dog at Merseyside, it didn’t help Liverpool that Swansea beat them. Liverpool has some great players, but things need to change, I personally feel that things started going sour when the lost Xabi Alonso, the man who had Gerard’s back and helped supply the terrorising Torres. After he left, there was a void that never really got filled.

Then on to the fight for 3rd, now this as especially dramatic for me as I’m a Gooner. The placing for 3rd, 4th and 5th could have all changed last night. Arsenal could have ended up in 5th if the lost. Arsenal took the lead at West Brom only to succumb to 2 goals and then making a come back to making it 3-2. It was nail biting. Spurs won and keep 4th, and Newcastle stay in 5th after their loss to Everton. Now my only wish is that Chelsea win the Champions League to knock out Spurs hopes of champions league football. I never was a Spurs hater until the last season, when certain Spurs started running their mouths after the went on top of Arsenal in the table. Mind the Gap.

“@omojuwa: Tottenham’s best season, Arsenal’s worst season. Same story, Tottenham’s best is worse than #Arsenal ‘s worst”

Van Persie secure his golden boot, not hopefully with 3rd place he’ll sign a new contract with us and stay.

“@piersmorgan: Don’t leave us, Skipper @Persie_Official – stay and become an all-time #Arsenal LEGEND like Dennis. #DutchMasters”

And on to the most intense part of the night, the 5 minutes of injury time at the Etihad. United thought they had won the title after City messed up and allowed QPR to take the lead by making it 2-1, but in what I must say is the most fantastic way to win the title by snatching the trophy away from your bitter rivals at the very last moment, to score 2 goals in injury time. I can only describe it as phenomenal. The feeling that Mancini and his men felt last night is something they probably will never feel again, no matter how many other trophies the win after this. Ending the 44 year drought, shoving it into the face of their bitter rivals in the most painful way. Amazing.

I continued on to watch the interviews and celebrations.
The interview with Vincent Kompany was great, so touching,I could see how much it meant to him. He definitely deserved it. Great Captain. So much pressure, never giving up. Joe Hart couldn’t really give an view, he was in such shock.

It was actually really nice watching the trophy ceremony. Showed me a different side of the City team. I’m happy for you guys, and the fans.

Congratulations.

In the end, I guess with was the 6-1 beating that City gave United at Old Trafford that won them the title, but in all fairness props to MU for being able to give City a fight till the end, though you guys did sort of throw the title away when you gave away an 8 point lead that you had about a month ago, but still, you guys didn’t make it easy for City. Good Job.

What a god damn season, what an ending to one of the most roller coaster seasons in the BPL.

“@premierleague: There were 32 goals in today’s #bpl matches, taking the season’s total to 1,066 – a record for a 38-match season, beating 2010/11 by three.”

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

Russell’s Notorious Tour

Good morning everyone, my Cafe Mocha and I welcome you to this mornings post.

For those who weren’t not aware, Canadian comedian Russell Peters came down to Malaysia over the weekend and graced us with two shows, Friday night and Saturday night at Stadium Malawait Shah Alam. I went for the Friday night show, which was the second show he opened due to the record breaking sell out for Saturday nights show.

Let me start of by saying that Russell was brilliant. It was such a to to watch him live. He is such an intelligent comedian, using the audience as comedy material. He has the amazing ability of being able to go back to the root joke even after spending 10 minutes on spin off. His jokes bounded on racist but the reason no one minds is the he hits everyone, including himself. So I have absolute praise for him, and his opening act Joey Medina, who is also incredibly funny, and DJ Spinbad for spinning some awesome tunes before and after the show to entertain us. So as for the performance, I have to issues.

Now to Ticketpro.

I was in absolute shock when I saw where the usher was escorting us. RM438 (USD110) for these seats? I wasn’t the only one who was shocked at the placement of our seats, I watched as countless others fell victim to this blatant misrepresentation. Everybody escorted to my area was in disbelief, some got angry.

The venue was crap, and the seating was badly arranged. It looked to me like Ticketpro a trying to skimp on anything they could to make more money for themselves. Th signage for the entrances was also bad, and did I mention it was a crap venue? The only plus is that it was at least air conditioned.

Now why was I irritated at the seating, it may not have been misrepresentation but the seating plan implied that the stage was further back, I was sitting at the side, whilst others who paid the same amount were right in front of stage. I was very disappointed. If you want to do something like this, have a price difference, don’t make us pay the same price for front stage seats if you’re going to put us a the side. Yes the seating plan showed that there were seats there, but there shouldnt have been. Side (fringe) seats should not be the same price as the seats in front of stage, I felt cheated. The seats right behind the 438 centre seats had a better view than mine.

Secondly, Ticketpro.com was absolute crap, the queue system just didn’t work and when I did mange to get in it said that tickets I wanted were not available… Their servers could not handle the load, Ticketpro, please step up your game. It was because of this that i had to resort to going to Rock Corner and not being able to pick exactly where I wanted to sit. I was incredibly disappointed with the organisers.

For all we know, it’s this kind of shoddy work that make premier performers think twice before coming to Malaysia.

The second picture from the bottom should have been the view for the average RM438 ticket, not the the view as shown in the last picture.

To end on a more positive note, Russell was hilarious and I’m glad I went, just should have gone for the cheaper tickets, would have gotten a better view.

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

The Power of the Hug

Good evening everyone, here’s a little post to end the day,

It’s the simplest thing in life that we are most guilty of taking for granted, these little things that can spur the best type of joy, happiness or love; enjoying the stars in the night sky whilst lying down on the cool grass, or having a great conversation with someone or the look on the face of someone you care about when you perform some simple random act of kindness, such as giving them a flower. It is these moments that can really make life worth living. However, my favourite among the simple things is, the hug.

The hug is such an underrated way of showing appreciation or affection. It can help someone feel safe, feel at home, feel like they matter, feel like wanted, most importantly it can make someone feel loved. The act of embracing your fellow human is so universal, so versatile. It can be used for almost anything whether it be a moment of congratulations or a moment of condolence; a moment of bliss or a moment of sadness; a moment of friendship or a moment of love.

The Hug is a simple act of which results in a more than proportional result, when executed right.

A hug should be all embracing, not mere bumping of the shoulders at an awkward angle, no person ever felt appreciate from a half hearted borderline pathetic hug. Do it right. Make the person you are about to hug feel like you actually want to do to and that it’s not just a formality.

I never truly appreciated the power held in a hug until an uncle of mine talked to me about it after he saw me give my mum a “hug”. He said that he never went a day without giving someone a proper hug because that hug made his day all that much better.

So stop being stingy with your hugs. Show the people you care about that you actually do care about them. You’re actions speak much louder than words. If you tell someone you love them or care for them, make sure your actions are in sync.

Good night,

Now go give your parents a hug, 🙂

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

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