Lost Keys

It's funny how life works out sometimes

You search for those keys, high and low and could never find it

You scratch your head and think real hard and somehow you find nothing

Having spent too much time looking for it, you decided to give up and try later

Time slowly passes and you forget about trying to find those keys

Next thing you know......

The keys are right there, right in front of your very eyes, the place you never thought to look

When you found those keys, you grab it straight away and keep it close to you
You think twice before ever leaving your keys around again
You know that if you lose your keys again, you will be a complete idiot
I think I've found those keys
And I intend to keep them from a very long time

2011

Yes a bit late considering everyone has been doing their reflections late December/ early January but hey better late than never...

Reflecting back on 2010, I believe that I have grown a lot personally. Especially if you're talking about achievements that I have made and in terms of what I want to do for my career. I've won awards, achieved great results and learnt a lot of things, its like I made up for years of slacking in the last 12 months.

However as a person, as a man, I think I have a lot more growing to do. I have grown a lot from who I was back in the day but I am still doing things that I should not be doing. There are times where I have allowed myself to do things that potentially have hurt other people. I want to make a big change in this for 2011, I want to be the man that I know that I can be. I want to erase the misconceptions and mistakes by becoming a better man.

I will never be perfect, but I want to die a man who tried his best to do what was right. Let this be the year.

Leading Without a Title

Today I just finished reading the book Leading Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma and boy did it open my eyes. Especially the last 2 chapters, they talked a lot about "being a great person to be a great leader."

Certain things that caught my eye was changing the way we think, although I believe that I have changed this a lot over the last couple of years there are still a few things that I need to do to become a great leader. One thing is that I need to be able to willingly trust people more when I delegate stuff out and expect them to accomplish their tasks well rather than have low expectations. When you have low expectations, it shows through your words and actions and it causes people to lose faith in you.

Another thing talked about in this book was to think well and release any negative feelings you have towards anyone. The anger and negativity that we hold consumes a lot of our power and we need to let it free and then we can reach our full potential.

These are definitely things that I will be working on.

The book is awesome by the way and I recommend everyone to read it.

Forgiveness

The word forgiveness is not that commonly used these days. Sure you'll hear it a lot when you go to church or another religious events but how often is it used in your normal everyday dialogue.

We're bombarded with messages that we only have ONE CHANCE and ONE SHOT, the word forgiveness does not seem to fit in with that message.

For me I see two types of forgiveness:

1. The type where you forgive someone because you "don't want to fight anymore" or because "its not worth ruining your relationship for." You suck in your pride and you say "hey you wronged me but it's okay lets move on."

2. The type where you dig down beneath all the hatred and anger you have towards someone and you let it go. You may not necessarily become best friends again or go back to how it used to be but you are willing to let bygones be bygones and you no longer feel those negative feelings when you think of the person. This is probably the hardest form of forgiveness but the most rewarding when performed. You feel this weight go off your shoulders and you somehow feel happier.

Peace

Reflection

I spent the last 10-20 minutes skimming through my old blog posts and the recent ones that I have just wrote. Boy have I changed.... I have gone from writing about what I think was "teenage puppy love" or "infatuations" to stuff that I think have much more relevance and importance in this world. It's interesting to see how in the past I just used to only write about the emotions and feelings going through me but now I am actually starting to talk about my plans and dreams.

Today I watched the announcement of the UWA 2011 Executive Board and boy was I impressed. I could see the excitement and passion shown through these candidates and it really inspires me to see the impact that this organisation can have in society. It also hit me that I'm slowly starting to feel better when I give back rather than be my old selfish self who just worries about himself. I have high hopes for the incoming team for AIESEC WA in 2011 and I hope they all take it to the extreme next level. Lets show AIESEC Australia who the real sleeping giant is!

Lastly, I urge those of you who don't write blogs or journals to start doing so. Even if its personal and no one else would read it. Its a great way for you to watch yourself grow and see how much you have changed over the years. Also I am starting a new blog called the Akoo Experience, its currently empty but any future posts about anything to do with ambition, entrepreneurship, business and stuff like that will be posted there. This blog here will be more for personal reflection and so on. Anyway for those of you who actually have been reading this, thank you for your time and hearing what I have to say. Please don't be shy to drop a comment or whatever.

Peace

Patience

Recently a few events in my life have happened and it has really frustrated and made me think as well.

Before this, life has been going pretty well, too well in fact! I have been told that successful people have to go through ups and downs in life, which is what makes them tougher and their ability to learn from these events that make them great. I guess these few minor downturns have been a good thing because otherwise I probably did not learn much of everything.

One of the things that I have really learnt from these "minor downturns" is the importance of patience, sometimes it is very important to wait before you do something rather than jump straight into it. Yes, it is important to take action and not just "wait" all the time but timing is also very important in certain situations. Just be very sure that you are actually waiting for the right time and not just making excuses for yourself not to take action.

Recently I have been frustrated by a few people around me, these have come from many things such as certain comments or remarks made to me, actions by people, non-actions by people and so on. But when I sit down and think about it, everyone is different and people including myself are not perfect. I think again it is important to be a bit patient with people and not expect everyone to think on the same level as oneself.

I honestly think this is a sign from up there, telling me that there are certain things that I have to change and work on in order to get to where I want to be in life. Its really like God has made all these things happen to me so that I can have a semi-epiphany right now after all the whining and bitching that I have been doing.

What I really need to do now is really let these lessons sink into my head, so that I will not make the same mistakes in the future. I know this is a bit vague however, some of these situations involve other people and I think its not fair to disclose certain personal issues and details of people other than myself. I do hope you get what I am coming from though.


Peace

Creating my own MBA

For those who don't know, I am very involved with a not-for-profit student organisation called AIESEC. I have dedicated a lot of time and effort into this organisation especially this year.

An example of the time commitment I have with AIESEC:
I have a weekly 2 hour executive board meeting, 1hr weekly team meeting, 2 hour weekly team leaders meeting and a monthly Western Australian Leadership Team meeting. This does not include the meetings I have with the Member Committee on skype, the meetings with potential exchange participants, the preparation seminars and review boards that I hold. This also does not include the extra time I put into helping the other teams. So in short, you can say that I do spend a lot of time into this organisation and guess what I get paid for it? ZERO DOLLARS!!

Many people have asked me, why do I put my time into this? What is my motivation? What keeps me going? Don't I need money? etc etc etc...

To be honest, although I personally knew what I was getting out of this sacrifice and commitment, explaining it was not the simplest task. However after reading a blog post from Tim Ferriss I finally figured out how to and it also gave me a completely different perspective in life.

Firstly lets talk about the sacrifices that I have made:
Apart from the time commitment, one of the biggest sacrifices that I have had to make is a permanent part time job. Because I am constantly travelling to go to seminars and conferences, it has been very difficult for me to secure a part time job. I was intending to work around 25 hours a week. The jobs that I were looking at paid around $18-$25, but lets be generous and say I get paid $18 an hour for the job. Lets also take into account the holidays I will probably take, it will be around 8 weeks for the year (exams, holiday etc..).

So $18 * 25hours * 44 weeks = $19800

So I have forgone $19800 worth of income potentially because of my commitment to AIESEC. Adding on conference costs, lets make it an even $23000.

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/06/28/mba/#more-2832

If you read this blog post, Tim Ferriss talks about how MBA's are not necessarily the best ways for you to learn, especially regarding business.

When you study a course in university generally there are things you want to get are, building business skills and a business network.

So I have decided to call AIESEC my MBA in Entrepreneurship.

Currently these are some of the skills and experiences that I have developed in AIESEC:

People management
Team management
Sales
Networking
Strategic Planning
KPI setting
Marketing
Public Speaking
Patience
Cultural diversity
Innovation
Leadership

On top of these skills, I have increased my networks tremendously. I currently have a global network in God knows how many countries. I have shared ideas and experiences with people in the same position and people from all different kinds of backgrounds. Been forced to think outside the bubble. Went to China, Taiwan and soon to come India. Created unforgettable and fulfilling life experiences. Made very valuable friends for life.

So if I were to study a MBA of Entrepreneurship (which is what I want to do in life) or something along those lines, are these the skills and experience I want to get? Hell yes...

Currently the average price of an MBA at Curtin is around $14000 p.a. MBA's are for 2 years, so the total price is $28000.

So currently I have gained the experience and skills that I want from an MBA, for $23000 in one year (so I save $5000 and 1 year).

Not only that, I had an awesome kickass time doing it!!

Peace