- Dan John
It's called the "Alpo Diet." Invite a dozen friends over to your house. Tell them that by the end of the month you're going to lose ten pounds. Tell them that if you don’t, you'll eat the can of Alpo in front of them.
Well, as long as it has gravy…
For the next week, every time you feel the urge to take a piece of chocolate from the cubicle next to you, reread the contents of the Alpo can. If someone offers you something smothered in goo, open the Alpo can and take a good deep sniff.
You see, this is the crux of goal setting: Rarely do people improve because of the pleasure of the goal; rather it's pain that sets them on a goal,
Saturday, November 07, 2009
The best diet plan in the world.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
The Pursuit of Happiness, Part 2
So, how does one find their 'self'?
Unless you have alot of time and space to be alone and contemplate things, without distractions abundantly available in today's society, it is very difficult.
It took my employer more than half his life to even begin to find his 'self', and that was only after an extremely traumatic event.
One step to that path, is confidence. A confident person is less susceptible to external influences on the inner balance of their emotions, and more importantly, reactions.
The more I thought about it, the more I realised that there is indeed a choice of whether I would let something affect me and how.
A simple, everyday example. You are driving to work on a typical day, after a relaxed, happy weekend. A car swerves in from the left and cuts into your path, making you hit the brakes hard.
Anger rises, and you start blasting your horn, and perhaps begin tailgating the car out of indignation. From observation, a common reaction among Malaysian drivers.
What began as a pleasant day, ruined for the rest of it all thanks to one minor incident. Not only that, in the future you might develop a habit of sticking close to the car in front, so as to avoid or at least lessen the possibility of someone cutting into your lane, which needless to say, will sharply increase the chances of your getting into an accident.
You can observe the thread of events that start with a single reaction to a single situation start to have a more widespread affect, like ripples in a pond when a stone is thrown into the water. Now, imagine if you choose NOT to let some rude driver's exploits affect your own driving, and choose not to let your emotions take the wheel.
You choose to drive confidently, and avoid or at least lessen the chances of some insecure driver swerving into your lane, by always maintaining several car's length of road in front of you. Now even if someone swerves into your lane, at least you don't have to hit your brakes as hard (since you're driving slower and have more room to brake), and therefore your feelings will be reduced to just slightly annoyed instead of RRRRAAAAGGGEEEE!!!!!!
Applying this to the previous example, the tailgating behaviour, will affect OTHER drivers as well, believe it or not.
Try experimenting next time when you are stuck in a jam. Try maintaining 2-3 cars' length distance (6-10 metres) in front of you at all times, instead of the usual couple of inches, or at least 3 metres when stopped.
In a matter of minutes, you will usually see OTHER vehicles around you starting to do the same and keeping a larger distance in front instead of sticking bumper to bumper.
A very interesting experiment indeed on human behaviour on the road. It just takes one car to drive confidently to give a sense of assurance to the other vehicles around, and from my view, that little much more of a pleasant drive despite being in a traffic jam which IMO makes all the difference (and easier on your car, as you will be stopping and starting less, hitting your brakes less and therefore reducing the wear and tear on your car, even saving a little petrol in the process).
So, how does this tie into one's pursuit of happiness, you ask? Well, Simple. You certainly cannot choose when, what and where things will disturb and/or upset your feelings, but you can certainly choose HOW these events will affect you and your actions.
I believe insecurity is the root of the majority of problems people face today, and insecurity is caused by the lack of confidence in oneself. Using anything else other than your 'self' to hold your self-esteem up is the path to an unstable sense of self-esteem. Material wealth, friends or other external things are for naught if one does not have self-confidence built upon oneself.
If you can take criticism as a valuable piece of information about your beliefs or personal faults you overlooked (and therefore can fix) and thank the critic, if you can accept and overcome failiure and hardship as challenges that are simply stepping stones to a greater goal in life, then you're already one step toward true happiness.
Unless you have alot of time and space to be alone and contemplate things, without distractions abundantly available in today's society, it is very difficult.
It took my employer more than half his life to even begin to find his 'self', and that was only after an extremely traumatic event.
One step to that path, is confidence. A confident person is less susceptible to external influences on the inner balance of their emotions, and more importantly, reactions.
The more I thought about it, the more I realised that there is indeed a choice of whether I would let something affect me and how.
A simple, everyday example. You are driving to work on a typical day, after a relaxed, happy weekend. A car swerves in from the left and cuts into your path, making you hit the brakes hard.
Anger rises, and you start blasting your horn, and perhaps begin tailgating the car out of indignation. From observation, a common reaction among Malaysian drivers.
What began as a pleasant day, ruined for the rest of it all thanks to one minor incident. Not only that, in the future you might develop a habit of sticking close to the car in front, so as to avoid or at least lessen the possibility of someone cutting into your lane, which needless to say, will sharply increase the chances of your getting into an accident.
You can observe the thread of events that start with a single reaction to a single situation start to have a more widespread affect, like ripples in a pond when a stone is thrown into the water. Now, imagine if you choose NOT to let some rude driver's exploits affect your own driving, and choose not to let your emotions take the wheel.
You choose to drive confidently, and avoid or at least lessen the chances of some insecure driver swerving into your lane, by always maintaining several car's length of road in front of you. Now even if someone swerves into your lane, at least you don't have to hit your brakes as hard (since you're driving slower and have more room to brake), and therefore your feelings will be reduced to just slightly annoyed instead of RRRRAAAAGGGEEEE!!!!!!
Applying this to the previous example, the tailgating behaviour, will affect OTHER drivers as well, believe it or not.
Try experimenting next time when you are stuck in a jam. Try maintaining 2-3 cars' length distance (6-10 metres) in front of you at all times, instead of the usual couple of inches, or at least 3 metres when stopped.
In a matter of minutes, you will usually see OTHER vehicles around you starting to do the same and keeping a larger distance in front instead of sticking bumper to bumper.
A very interesting experiment indeed on human behaviour on the road. It just takes one car to drive confidently to give a sense of assurance to the other vehicles around, and from my view, that little much more of a pleasant drive despite being in a traffic jam which IMO makes all the difference (and easier on your car, as you will be stopping and starting less, hitting your brakes less and therefore reducing the wear and tear on your car, even saving a little petrol in the process).
So, how does this tie into one's pursuit of happiness, you ask? Well, Simple. You certainly cannot choose when, what and where things will disturb and/or upset your feelings, but you can certainly choose HOW these events will affect you and your actions.
I believe insecurity is the root of the majority of problems people face today, and insecurity is caused by the lack of confidence in oneself. Using anything else other than your 'self' to hold your self-esteem up is the path to an unstable sense of self-esteem. Material wealth, friends or other external things are for naught if one does not have self-confidence built upon oneself.
If you can take criticism as a valuable piece of information about your beliefs or personal faults you overlooked (and therefore can fix) and thank the critic, if you can accept and overcome failiure and hardship as challenges that are simply stepping stones to a greater goal in life, then you're already one step toward true happiness.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Chicken Stew!
Here's another recipe of a dish I made, chicken stew. The baby corn and mushrooms in particular make a good combination for a nice, tasty soup!
1 whole packet of baby carrots, halved and quartered
2 cartons of mushrooms (portabello, oyster, button etc.), sliced
2 trays of chicken fillet, skinless
1 head of broccoli
4 small potatoes
2 medium-sized onions
1 whole garlic bulb, chopped
1 pack of baby corn, halved
For extra flavour (optional):
chicken stock (has MSG, salt and sugar, but I buy the small bottle instead of cubes so can control how much is added)
oregano, ground
thyme, ground
Cooking:
I use a rice cooker pot for all my cooking. First I boil the water, filled about less than a quarter of the pot, and then add chicken stock. Baby carrots go in first, with the baby corn. (5 mins on average)
Once that starts boiling, I add the mushrooms, onions, potatoes and chicken fillets. When the stew is boiling again and i'm sure the chicken is properly cooked, I add the garlic and broccoli (these two last because they become soft and mushy very fast when boiled too long), with the extra condiments. (about 10 mins on average)
After leaving for another 3-5 mins should be ready to eat. This is good for 3-4 meals/persons.
Nice thing about it, is you can use it (minus the soup) for salad as well.
1 whole packet of baby carrots, halved and quartered
2 cartons of mushrooms (portabello, oyster, button etc.), sliced
2 trays of chicken fillet, skinless
1 head of broccoli
4 small potatoes
2 medium-sized onions
1 whole garlic bulb, chopped
1 pack of baby corn, halved
For extra flavour (optional):
chicken stock (has MSG, salt and sugar, but I buy the small bottle instead of cubes so can control how much is added)
oregano, ground
thyme, ground
Cooking:
I use a rice cooker pot for all my cooking. First I boil the water, filled about less than a quarter of the pot, and then add chicken stock. Baby carrots go in first, with the baby corn. (5 mins on average)
Once that starts boiling, I add the mushrooms, onions, potatoes and chicken fillets. When the stew is boiling again and i'm sure the chicken is properly cooked, I add the garlic and broccoli (these two last because they become soft and mushy very fast when boiled too long), with the extra condiments. (about 10 mins on average)
After leaving for another 3-5 mins should be ready to eat. This is good for 3-4 meals/persons.
Nice thing about it, is you can use it (minus the soup) for salad as well.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Independence Day!
While hanging out at Chew's place, the topic of those old patriotic/propaganda songs they used to play quite often on the TV (usually on the RTM channels), and in the spirit of commemorating our country's Independence Day, I did a little searching and dug up some of those classics we used to hear so much of (because they were often strategically slotted in between cartoons :P).
Alas, I couldn't find any trace of the awesome "A.I.D.S, merbahaya, aedes pula, mengancam manusia" video except for various references on blogs.
Keranamu Malaysia
Ella - Standing In The Eyes of The World
Sejahtera Malaysia
Fikirkan Boleh
Tanggal 31
Alas, I couldn't find any trace of the awesome "A.I.D.S, merbahaya, aedes pula, mengancam manusia" video except for various references on blogs.
Keranamu Malaysia
Ella - Standing In The Eyes of The World
Sejahtera Malaysia
Fikirkan Boleh
Tanggal 31
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The Pursuit of Happiness Part 1
What is life, but the pursuit of happiness, really?
I had a long talk with my boss last week, about the things one faces in life, about his dreams for life, the experience in his relationship with his (soon to be ex) wife, and the realisations from the soul-searching he had from experiencing his divorce.
Some things he said to me during this really stood out.
He said that people who have not found their 'self', often seek attributes in others that they themselves lack, in the hope that that person can make up or somehow transfer it to them. In some cases, the balance of temperaments and the exchange of self from both parties do not come into conflict, but very often people are blinded to the obvious until it reaches a critical point.
The conversation itself is too lengthy and details unnecessary to bear repeating, but I make my observations and lessons I learned from it.
I spent quite abit of time divining the crux of this conversation, as usual falling back into introspective mode for several days through the weekend.
To wit, the foundation of a man is not in the material possessions he owns, nor in the people around him, not even in his wealth. Material possessions can be taken away, the people can distance themselves and disconnect, and wealth can dissapear in the blink of an eye.
It is in his values where he finds the bedrock of his psyche, of his self. A man without values builds upon pillars of sand; everything will come crashing down the moment something kicks them in.
A man who has a strong core of values, a solid foundation of principles, and an unwavering sense of self will pull through through sheer force of will.
Unfortunately, the society we live in today puts many distractions and manufactured stumbling blocks to make it that much more difficult to achieve.
The mass media churns out aural and visual stimuli to distract our minds and create artificial value in things, the concept of credit and debt keeps us working to pay off what is essentially an intangible idea, consumerism keeps the ball and chain of credit and debt locked securely around our feet.
“To be truly rich, regardless of his fortune or lack of it, a man must live by his own values. If those values are not personally meaningful, then no amount of money gained can hide the emptiness of life without them.” - John Paul Getty, How to Be Rich (1961)
"When you run in debt; you give to another power over your liberty." - Benjamin Franklin
I had a long talk with my boss last week, about the things one faces in life, about his dreams for life, the experience in his relationship with his (soon to be ex) wife, and the realisations from the soul-searching he had from experiencing his divorce.
Some things he said to me during this really stood out.
He said that people who have not found their 'self', often seek attributes in others that they themselves lack, in the hope that that person can make up or somehow transfer it to them. In some cases, the balance of temperaments and the exchange of self from both parties do not come into conflict, but very often people are blinded to the obvious until it reaches a critical point.
The conversation itself is too lengthy and details unnecessary to bear repeating, but I make my observations and lessons I learned from it.
I spent quite abit of time divining the crux of this conversation, as usual falling back into introspective mode for several days through the weekend.
To wit, the foundation of a man is not in the material possessions he owns, nor in the people around him, not even in his wealth. Material possessions can be taken away, the people can distance themselves and disconnect, and wealth can dissapear in the blink of an eye.
It is in his values where he finds the bedrock of his psyche, of his self. A man without values builds upon pillars of sand; everything will come crashing down the moment something kicks them in.
A man who has a strong core of values, a solid foundation of principles, and an unwavering sense of self will pull through through sheer force of will.
Unfortunately, the society we live in today puts many distractions and manufactured stumbling blocks to make it that much more difficult to achieve.
The mass media churns out aural and visual stimuli to distract our minds and create artificial value in things, the concept of credit and debt keeps us working to pay off what is essentially an intangible idea, consumerism keeps the ball and chain of credit and debt locked securely around our feet.
“To be truly rich, regardless of his fortune or lack of it, a man must live by his own values. If those values are not personally meaningful, then no amount of money gained can hide the emptiness of life without them.” - John Paul Getty, How to Be Rich (1961)
"When you run in debt; you give to another power over your liberty." - Benjamin Franklin
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
+10 points!
Do they teach basic safety in school anymore? Don't they tell those dumbass kids to look and make sure there are no cars coming before bloody crossing the road?
I was driving to work today, and as I was executing a corner some idiot kid walked right into my car. The kid crossed one side of the road and stepped up onto the divider, and he was looking at the opposite direction from which I was coming.
Pedestrians usually are smart enough to stop on the divider, but this particular one apparently has eyes on the back of his head. Maybe he had some dust in it. But instead of stopping on the divider, he just continued stepping off and onto the road.
Luckily for him, he stepped off just as the front of my car passed him and I wasn't driving very fast since I just turned the corner, and the only injury he sustained was an abrased forearm and maybe some bruised ribs after getting smacked by my sideview mirror.
If he had gotten off sooner and got hit by the front of my car, he'd have been roadkill for sure. He seemed unhurt enough to get back up, so after pointing out the fact that he was a dumbass, I told his friend (who had enough sense of self preservation to have stayed on the divider and NOT get a face-full of car) to take him to the hospital if he feels concussed.
On the bright side, I just earned +10 points for hitting sense into some dumbass kids and a lesson on road safety. If not, sooner or later he'd probably be run over by a truck anyway at the rate he's going.
I was driving to work today, and as I was executing a corner some idiot kid walked right into my car. The kid crossed one side of the road and stepped up onto the divider, and he was looking at the opposite direction from which I was coming.
Pedestrians usually are smart enough to stop on the divider, but this particular one apparently has eyes on the back of his head. Maybe he had some dust in it. But instead of stopping on the divider, he just continued stepping off and onto the road.
Luckily for him, he stepped off just as the front of my car passed him and I wasn't driving very fast since I just turned the corner, and the only injury he sustained was an abrased forearm and maybe some bruised ribs after getting smacked by my sideview mirror.
If he had gotten off sooner and got hit by the front of my car, he'd have been roadkill for sure. He seemed unhurt enough to get back up, so after pointing out the fact that he was a dumbass, I told his friend (who had enough sense of self preservation to have stayed on the divider and NOT get a face-full of car) to take him to the hospital if he feels concussed.
On the bright side, I just earned +10 points for hitting sense into some dumbass kids and a lesson on road safety. If not, sooner or later he'd probably be run over by a truck anyway at the rate he's going.
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