How Ordinary People Like YOU & Me Can Be Extraordinarily Wealthy from Simple Daily Habits

I am very blessed to be surrounded by a lot of wealthy people and friends. It gives me many insights and also drive to be like them. I have learnt a lot over the many years from watching their behavioral patterns. The ones I learn most are the one who once came from humble beginnings: no inheritance, no getting it from their husband/wife/bf/gf, no winning the lottery. They not only work hard but they also have certain traits amongst all of them.

Today, I am here to share with you my findings. I hope it will be useful for you as it has been and will be even more so for me as I ensure they are ALL IMPLEMENTED. J

Daily Habits We Can Do To Be Successful & Wealthy:

They all maintain a DAILY TO-DO-LIST to ensure no procrastination and efficient use of time. See my last article that I wrote about To-Do List

DAILY DIET. They are more careful with what they eat, they don’t eat as much junk food as ordinary people do. That shows discipline.

THEY DON’T SPEND TIME WATCHING TV, THEY WATCH 1 HOUR or LESS and it is RARELY REALITY TV. It is good for entertainment but in little doses, not too much. If you have a lot of time watching TV, it probably means you really have nothing better to do a.k.a. not being productive.

VALUE RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE FOR PROFESSIONAL & PERSONAL GROWTH. It is important to make a habit of maintaining contacts even if it means just a simple text msg to say hello or wishing happy birthday. Most people in my life are honestly not for Professional growth, I have such contacts but I do not use them. They are for my personal growth. I learn from everyone. Their support makes me stronger. Which in turn grows my professional aspect of life.

MEET NEW PEOPLE & KEEP IN TOUCH. You never know who these people are, where they come from, who they may become in future. I am actually an introvert but I have always believed that meeting new people and networking is important and so over the many years I have become what it seems as an extrovert even though I am still actually an introvert J I also personally know of an office cleaner in Sydney from 16years ago who now has a house overlooking the Sydney Harbour, drives a Ferrari and Porsche and owns one of the biggest professional office cleaning services in Australia and government contracts. Not bad for a guy who used to clean toilets huh? Most people would have disregarded him as a supposed toilet cleaner, I didn’t (I cleaned toilets too!). And till today we are very good friends. When I went to Sydney recently, he owns a yacht and took me on a sailing race in the Sydney Harbour. Why? He said his closest friends till today are people who knew him as a NOBODY, not people who knew him when he became successful.

DETERMINE YOUR OWN PATH IN LIFE. There is a mantra I live by DAILY recently… THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE IS TO CREATE IT! Since I was a kid, I believed that I would be wealthy, I would be able to help others, and in my own little way, I have achieved it and still achieving larger aspects of it now and in the future.  Poor people believe that genetics, fate, luck, what time and year you were born in is what makes u wealthy or successful. Maybe it’s true to a little extent, but in this world and in this lifetime, everyone needs to do what they need to do to create their own future. Even if you are the luckiest person on earth, you would need to take the action of going into the casino and playing a game. The money wouldn’t just credit into your account without doing anything. Although I do not encourage gambling AT ALL.

Wealthy people believe that CREATIVITY INFLUENCES SUCCESS. Poor people believe being “intellectually gifted” is critical. To date, world’s most successful people were high school or university dropouts or C grade students, not A grade students. There is more to wealth than JUST BEING SMART. However I believe that in this and future era, it has to be a combination of both. We need the basics of intelligence (school/uni qualifications) combined with creativity. It is quite difficult to succeed without basic qualifications nowadays. However a 20 yr old has recently proven me otherwise. She only completed high school, doesn’t speak much English but loves fashion and make up. She started a blog of doing nothing but replicating ASIAN & HOLLYWOOD SUPERSTARS looks for under $100. It became huge and many people kept asking her how/where to buy her recreated looks, she started an online shop and within 1 year, she is earning about $20,000-30,000 A MONTH! That’s way more than the average. So much for a NON INTELLIGENT GIRL. Her CREATIVITY is what got her to where she is today. Even all INVENTORS, STEVE JOBS, BILL GATES, they are all actually CREATIVE PEOPLE.  Everyone has creativity, you need to find your own calling for this. Creativity doesn’t mean you have to be artistic, love symphonies etc… Creativity can mean how you can turn a normal toast into many various different types of toasts. Creativity can be taking a simple white tshirt and turning into various different types of outfits. Creativity can be replacing your shoelaces with rafeah rope! Creativity is limitless. Start injecting some bits of CREATIVITY into your LIFE DAILY.

ENJOY YOUR JOB DAILY. I have always been a firm believer that you must enjoy what you do. 86% of the world’s wealthy work an average of 50 hours or more.  81% say they do more than their job requires. Why? Cos you love your job, you want to excel in it and you want to be proud of it. This is related to the idea of creativity being important to financial success. Normally, people who FIND A CREATIVE PURSUIT THAT CAN TURN INTO MONETARY VALUE. When you engage in a creative pursuit or passion that can make money, the rewards are often obscene. Everyday when you are about to start work, in the morning when you are getting ready, instead of thinking: arghhh so much crap to do today, think, I cant wait to do this and that and complete it J Once you start loving your job, naturally you will be more creative. But if you spend more time doing something else than enjoying your job, you should consider a change in your career into something that you would love.

KEEPING HEALTHY. In sync with point number 2: DAILY DIET. Wealthy people believe that health influences their success. Being healthy means fewer sick days, which translates into more productivity and more money. I am a workaholic and will always be. People always used to say at the rate I am working to earn a good living, I will fall ill and then what’s the point of having no health but wealth only. My answer used to be, no money, no capability of treating my health. But now, my mentality is very different. I think HEALTH 1^st then WEALTH. Only when I am well, can I be more creative and earn better. And if in the event, I do fall ill, I am able to recover faster and have the monetary means to do so. It is a chicken & egg story but HEALTH is important. So now, I eat better, I exercise better, I take supplements, I cook healthier food at home, I drink infused water, I do breathing exercises and I sleep at least 6 hours a day daily. My new daily habit is to do a few simple exercise at home daily and go to the gym/play a sport/swim/go for a run/walk 3 times a week.

IT’S OK TO MAKE MISTAKES. I used to beat myself up really badly everytime I make a mistake but I also learn from my mistakes very well. Most wealthy and successful people will tell you that they have failed numerous times in life or business or at work before they became extremely successful. The difference is, not to beat yourself up over it. Now, I learn to accept failure and move forward, learn from the mistakes. The lessons last forever. So in fact, the earlier you make the mistake, the better to recover and do even better. I learn everyday from mistakes daily, but I don’t beat myself up over it anymore. I learn to laugh about my silly mistake, take note of how it should have been done better and move forward.

DAILY SAVINGS. I can’t stop harping on this point since my 1^st posting. Every CENT SAVED, is a CENT EARNED. Saving should be easier than earning J Simple things we can do:

a.   STOP SPENDING COINS/LOOSE CHANGE DAILY, instead put them in a jar, bottle, piggy bank at the end of each day when you come home daily. You will be surprise how much you can save a month!

b.   Only buy when on SALE, now with so many online shops, Groupon, MyDeal, Lazada, you can get savings everywhere and not pay full prices anymore.

c.    Before paying monthly bills, save $10 or $50, then feel broke. Its good to feel broke after saving, at least in many many years to come, you won’t be as broke as everyone else!

d.   Sell the items you no longer need. This is something I am still learning to do. I am a hoarder of things, I have so many things in my house, of which probably 60% of the things I own I don’t use at all anymore.  Hold a garage sale, sell it online on mudah.my (for Malaysia) or even to friends on Facebook. You will be surprised how much money you can get from sales of items. I recently sold just little bit of things and make collectively $2,000. If not, these items would have just stayed in my house and depreciated even more.  Now, I am $2000 richer and it’s going into my kids savings account.

READ DAILY. Most wealthy & successful people will tell you that they love to read. Reading 30minutes or more a day for education or career reasons is great. Increases your knowledge and perhaps boost your creativity too. Reading however is NOT READING NEWS FEED UPDATES, TWITTER FEEDS AND READING PHOTOS ON INSTAGRAM/PINTEREST. These are good to do INSTEAD of Watching TV. But regardless, put aside 30mins of reading a good fiction or non-fiction or self-help or motivational book every night before you sleep.

SLEEP EARLY & WAKE UP EARLY. Most wealthy & successful people wake up 3 hours before work starts. This shows discipline and trying to get the most out of each day. This maybe hard to do when you 1^st start to do it and you are not used to being a morning person, but trust me, you will somehow start to realise that you have more time than ever, more efficient and make better use of your time when you reshuffle your time from sleeping late, waking up late to sleep early, wake up early. Maintain the same 6-8hours a night but switch the hours. Now, I try my best to do 12am – 6am or 11pm – 6am. I am able to say my gratuity prayers, exercise, make breakfast for the kids, prepare lunch, shower, change, go through my daily to-do-list, send the kids to school, and start work early. Before my work day starts, I have already accomplished more than most people.

BE GRATEFUL, BE POSITIVE & BE HAPPY DAILY. I wake up every morning and start the day by giving THANKS for everything great I have. When you start the day acknowledging how good life is, life becomes good. And even throughout the day, if I start becoming crappy, I wouldn’t be as negative as I normally would as I would snap out of it really quickly, as I had started the day positively and it feels good to feel good J But most importantly, I start the day being grateful, positive and happy, I also end the day being grateful, positive and happy. I no longer cry and worry at night before I go to sleep.

Let's all BE WEALTHY & SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE TOGETHER!

The Brekkie Series: Buttermilk French Toast Recipe

I have been asked to please post up recipes of all the breakfast items I create daily for Alessi & Adrianna. I have been making French Toast since like forever, but its always Egg-Sugar-Milk-Bread-pan fry. Its quite yummy...

But I thought why milk when cream and buttermilk is so much better as a base ingredient. I googled online and true enough... there is such a thing as Buttermilk French Toast. So after only just 3 trial & error session, here's my fav rendition for the kids. Why is it my fav rendition? Because the kids simply eat the most with this recipe. 

BUTTERMILK FRENCH TOAST RECIPE

INGREDIENTS
1.5 cups Buttermilk 
(if you don't have buttermilk, as per my pancake recipe, just pour 1.5 cups of cooking/whipping cream mix with 1.5tbsp of lemon juice/white vinegar and leave to stand for 5-10mins, to curdle up and stir to get it all clumpy)

4 eggs

3 tbsp brown/white sugar (I found brown sugar gives it a slightly smoky taste which is yummier)

1/4 tsp salt

TIP: You can add 1tsp Vanilla Extract and/or pinch of cinnamon powder and/or pinch of nutmeg. Different kids are different to these taste but vanilla is normally safe. My kids love it with VANILLA + CINNAMON + NUTMEG!

Whisk ALL INGREDIENTS above in a bowl, pour onto a large baking tin, add bread in 1 layer to soak up the liquid. Let the bread absorb but NOT until it is falling apart. Depends on types of bread, it can take anything from 5mins to 20mins.

Types of Bread to use:
5mins soak + turn over every 2.5mins: Traditional Hailam Bread (kopitiam style bread is best for kids as it is really soft, spongy & airy)
10mins soak + turn over every 5mins: Normal home Gardenia bread
20 mins soak + turn over every 5 mins: French loaf sliced - kids don't tend to like this as it is harder but adults like this one normally in fancy restaurants
TIP: If you have no patience like me to wait for the bread to soak up, use a fork to poke the bread to enable faster absorption, but you need to master this as it will easily cause the bread to start falling apart easily :)

Butter to fry the French Toast - of course, the more the merrier for me, but use it only enough to coat the pan. Heat non-stick pan, put a little butter. Letter the butter foam up a little then place the bread pieces onto the pan. 

Cook for about 1.5mins, TURN OVER ONCE, until it puffs slightly and is golden brown.
As you cook them, place them in the oven to keep them warm & fluffy

MY TIP: Instead of having to cook them 1 by 1 in a pan, I place them in the baking pan, put it in the oven of 180 degrees Celsius and leave to bake for about 15-20mins (depending type of bread use). Best to see the colour turning golden brown then it means its time to take out.

HOW TO SERVE:

• Maple Syrup
• Honey
• Cinnamon Sugar (just mix white/brown sugar + cinnamon powder)
• Fresh Fruits/Berries
• Sliced Bananas (Adrianna's fav)
• Whipped Cream (Alessi's fav)
• Sieved Icing Sugar
• Pumpkin Puree (both kids love it & its sweet yet healthy)

Make this an activity with the kids, it is so easy to do, they can help out in the kitchen, have fun and help you make the breakfast. You can multitask and entertain the kids at the same time. I do so with my 18mth old and 4 yr old! See this video of how I get the kids to do the work as an activity :)

ENJOY!!!!

Homemade Buttermilk Pancake Recipe

Since I post a lot of stuff we cook at home for the kids on FB, I had quite a few requests for recipes as I go through many many trials and errors before I improvise and get it almost right for the kids at least. These are recipes for the family for a nice quick brekkie before they have to rush off to school or even for a nice weekend brekkie/brunch.

HOMEMADE BUTTERMILK PANCAKE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS PART 1:

1 cup Plain Flour (English) / All Purpose Flour (American), if you don't have these at home, you can use Self-Raising Flour too

 

1 tbsp white sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Combine the above ingredients in a large bowl. What I do is put the sugar & salt in the large bowl 1st, then put the powdery based products (flour, baking powder, baking soda) through a sieve then into the large bowl. When it is sieved and airy, the pancakes become more fluffy.

INGREDIENTS PART 2:

1 cup Buttermilk 

(if you don't want to waste money to buy buttermilk and have no other uses for it, just take 1 cup cream - cooking or whipping + 1 tbsp lemon juice/white vinegar, add them together and let it stand for 5min - 10mins for it to curdle up, clumpy and become buttermilk, mix well)

slightly less than 1/4 cup milk

1 egg

1/2 finger thickness cut from a typical rectangular/square butter block, melted 

Beat together the above ingredients (buttermilk, milk, egg, melted butter)

Once you are ready to make pancakes, pour WET MIXTURE 2 into flour mixture 1. Use a wooden spoon or fork. Stir well but DO NOT OVER STIR till it becomes too watery.

Heat up an pan/griddle.

To test if the pan is hot enough, flick some water onto the surface of the pan, if it beads up and sizzles immediately, that means the pan is hot enough & ready!

Pour batter onto pan into whatever size you want.

Let the batter bubble up quite a fair bit then only turn over to brown the other side.

ADDING FRESH FRUITS TO THE PANCAKE BATTER/MIXTURE:

If you want to add fruits like I do, once you pour batter onto the pan and make it into whatever size you want, then drop blueberries/raspberries/strawberry slices on top of the batter. 

Once batter bubbles up quite a fair bit, then only turn over to brown the other side.

Note: adding fresh fruits makes turning the pancakes over and having a nice brownish tone to the other side, a little difficult. need some practise because of the natural juices from the fruits.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

Top it with either one of the following:

• sieved powdered icing sugar
• maple syrup
• honey
• nutella
• butter
• yoghurt
• yoghurt + fresh fruits

 Blueberry Pancakes topped with Yoghurt + Fresh Blueberries

 Raspberry Pancakes topped with Yoghurt + Fresh Mashed Raspberries

Hope all of you enjoy this simple, fluffy and yummy pancake recipe. Do share with me on https://www.facebook.com/shamvanboonstranasution photos of your pancakes once you have made them :)

THANK YOU & ENJOY!

How a 19yr old Nobody like me earned at least $8700/mth whilst in university and got to where I am today...

I have always been very proud of myself over the years of being able to earn the income & lifestyle I have today. I had no inheritance from rich parents, didn't get lucky in anyway, didn't win any lottery and certainly didn't marry some rich man's son or a rich man to be where I am today or be a mistress. 

What I did mainly was to do the only thing I have ever known... Work hard. I always believed that working hard will always be paid off and yes it has over these many years. But over the many years I learn from many others, that alone is not enough, we have to work smart and today I learnt from 2 very simple friends, Joe & Michelle, what I should have always done which could probably have put me in a much wealthier position. 

At the age of 19, I am proud to say I bought my 1st car myself with my own money, it was a brand new BMW 523i. Basically I paid the minimum deposit and took the highest loan over the longest period. That made the monthly repayments affordable. But I was also working 4 jobs and going through university, something very few people have ever known about me. I attended full-time university (paying international student fees in a top Australian University without attending most classes except for the occasional ones here & there (I studied at home when I had the chance and my mum didn't know I did that). 

My BMW 523i that I owned from the age of 19yrs old.

From 9am-5pm I was a Personal Assistant to a Director of a Public Listed Company (It was very flexible as he travelled most of the time so I could work on other stuff when I finished my work tasks). I earned $2500/mth wearing fancy corporate suit.

From 5.30pm - 12am/1am, I worked as a waitress or bartender or the bar hostess that welcomes customers and brings them to their table at very posh places like W Hotel & a really upmarket restaurant in a rich man's area, I earned $10/hour and tips. I worked very hard for the tips. Most nights my tips surpassed my actual pay, wearing work uniform and black pants and well cleaning tables and serving people all night on my feet.

From 12.30/1.30am, I drive my fancy BMW523i which has all the cleaning equipment in the car boot and go to about 3 different corporate offices to clean up their office. Wash everything pantry, clean the floors, throw all the rubbish in the bins, dust and wipe everything, vacuum the entire office & even clean toilets all alone in these huge corporate offices. Each office takes about 1hr and they are near each other and I basically run like crazy in a race to finish each office within an hour wearing my dirty pants and an old worn out tshirt. It pays $18/hr and they allocate 3hrs per office but I complete in an hour. So I earned 9hrs pay for only 3hrs work!

I am home 430am/5am, knock out and wake up 8am and do the repeat cycle daily.

On weekends I work in a restaurant & cafe in the suburbs. I do everything in there:serve, prepare food, clean, clear, wash, cashier, wait tables and sometimes when the cook is on emergency leave I end up being the chef. It was like I owned the restaurant and the owner loved me and so did all the regulars. I earn $15/hour and all my meals were covered and I kept all my tips which were lots. I also do shifts at the bar in the evenings that I work for during the week pending roster. 

So if u work it out, as 20yr old undergraduate, I was earning at least $8700 a month not including all the tips I earn & all paid cash on hand & tax free except my 9-5 full-time office job. I was earning what most senior managers were earning in big corporate firms. And I was very smart, most of my meals were covered by the places I worked at. My working overheads were very very low. 

Counting all the cash I had as a 19yr old at my best friend's house

But the main problem is because of my EGO & PRIDE & the fact that all my friends came from wealthy families, I wanted to behave like I came from a very wealthy family too. So I became extremely PENNY WISE & POUND FOOLISH! 

I spend on fancy cars, buy expensive clothes and bags, if I travel for my holidays (I take breaks on annual leaves) its business class tickets and fancy 5* hotels. Ate in fine dining restaurants etc. So in the eyes of many friends I was really well off and wealthy. Only a handful of my friends knew that I was slogging like no tomorrow to upkeep my high expenditure. 

But doing this in the long run is extremely exhausting. I could only do it for 3years and I think because of this 1st impression I had initially created, till today nearly 18years later, most friends or people that know me, think I am from a wealthy family. 

Hearing what my 2 simple friends earning a decent wage tell me how they earn, save and manage to pay for so many things made me realised that if the last 18yrs I was much smarter about money, I would probably be worth at least $10million now as I ended up running many successful businesses too. But I am too much of a penny wise, pound foolish person.

In the past 2 years, I have learnt to be smarter as having 2children as a single mother makes you think a lot about future income and savings. But after listening to the wonderful advise of Joe & Michelle, I realised that the 1 important long term goal I have not written down in my big grand life plan is to be Penny Wise & Pound Savvy. But it is never too late, tonight I am writing down my goals and working out what I should start doing to achieve them. I have always known the answers, but my pride & ego never allowed me to practice what I preach. 

Thank You Joe & Michelle. 

Today marks a great lifelong change. 

Tomorrow I shall write down how ordinary people can be extraordinarily wealthy from daily habits & share it with everyone...

20 Things Extraordinary People Do Daily...

Its been 9 months since i last posted something on my little blog. I was too busy with work, juggling and multitasking. I finally left my full-time job end March and I have been busy catching up with my children. Boy do they grow fast. But in the midst of spending so much time with my children, they teach me daily on how to be a better person and how to be a better mother. Reconnecting with a long-time friend also reminded me of all the things I always said 13 years ago or even 20 years ago.

Everyone should be Extraordinary in their own ways.

I read an article entitled 17 Things Extraordinary People People Do Everyday which is perfect, it's hard to be extraordinary like Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie, Mother Theresa, Richard Branson etc but we can be extraordinary to ourselves, to our children and loved ones. This article reminded me how easy it is to do it in small little ways daily.

I am glad that I am doing most of it but perhaps I should do more of some and do a little bit more too.

So here's my rendition: The 20 Things Extraordinary People Do Everyday

1. Examine Long Term Goals

We all know that we need to have goals, around New Years day each year most of us will pen it down. But we also know most of us don't even get near it (even for a simple year's goal). We need goals so we can strive towards something. Its important to have one, five, 20 years goals from now. Which I did for a long time, then I forget about them cos it's at the back of my mind, swept under the carpet. The article says, spend a few minutes each day to go through your goals. That's EXCELLENT, you will be reminded daily and as the day goes by, progressively with continuous improvement, so will our goals. So I will start my Goals and review them daily. 

2. Examine Daily Plans / To-Do-List

I am infamous for my ridiculously long daily To-Do-Lists, if the list is too long, I jot it down. If it isn't, I make a mental note. It helps me to be productive. However the article states that we need to make sure that the daily to-do-lists are tasks that contribute to our Long Term Goals (Point No 1). Then I realised, no, most of my daily to-do-lists, probably only 20% contributes to the long terms goals. Which is fine, cos it should make me realise that what I am spending most of my time on, is actually what I should be doing, which contributes to the continuous improvement on the Long Term Goals. So with that, my tomorrow's To-Do-List has changed somewhat dramatically.

3. Ask For Help

This has been my biggest weakness. I do everything myself, I micro-manage. But its not worthwhile doing anything alone. Good to ask for help. It shows that we trust and want the other people to also grow and learn. And you never know unless you ask. The past few months, I have learnt to ask for help, without thinking it is a sign of weakness. I am still trying to learn this new habit but of course don't ask for help 150% and you end up not doing anything, that's called TAKING ADVANTAGE.

4. Engage In Mentorship

The article mentions: Mentorship has two sides, so on any given day, do two things: Engage with a mentor, and also offer mentorship to someone else. This is something I have always believed in, but the past 2 years, I felt I didn't mentor anyone much nor was I mentored. Recently, I have started doing so and this 2-way mentorship is helping my daily tasks and long terms goals to be reached even closer. It also enables me to ask for help from the mentor and my mentor-ee which makes me learn even more too.

5. Give Yourself A Break

Success doesn't come overnight, but we should set high standards for ourselves regardless. Setting these standards isn't easy; it comes with failures, stress, challenges and obstacles no doubt. Have you ever heard of any successful or extraordinary person without facing any of the above? None that I know of. So we need to be realistic, give ourselves a break when we fail, when it looks like its just not going to happen. I tend to jump the gun and stress out easily. Now, I do for only a little while. I totally freak out for an hour or so, cry myself for an hour or so, then I stop, ponder and review and find the positive side to it and I end up laughing about it. And voila, the minute I do that, the solutions come into my head.

6. Write Down What Happened

The article states that Life is a journey, so keep a journal. You don't need to be a polished writer or even devote a lot of time to this; even a small effort can pay huge dividends, and I felt what better way to do that than through my blog. Whatever I write can be inspirational for someone else out there and indirectly I mentor someone out there. So this is why I decided to start writing in my blog again.

7. Build Your Confidence.

Different people have different level of crisis of confidence. We all need to learn to overcome this fear of failure. For the longest time, I strived on fear. I thought that all my life's success were because of my various fears of failure. And indirectly to me, I still think it works a little bit but having a great combination of fear (but not fear of failure, it's 2 different things) and having confidence is a good combination. My fear of not looking attractive to the opposite sex and not being healthy for my children, drove me to lose 40kgs and gave me confidence to stay this way now and change my lifestyle. My fear of old people's diseases like Alzheimer's or being forgetful, gives me the confidence to always keep learning and keeping my mind challenged and active. My fear of not providing the best for my children, gives me the confidence that I can build different businesses and earn multiple incomes for their future and their current wellbeing.

8. Give Thanks and Compliments

This is very important, these few simple words can light me up and likewise light anyone else up. It shouldn't be just a sign of politeness or courtesy, it should be genuine. Earlier this year, someone told me that I always say Thank You out of politeness and when someone says Thank You to me, I think there is an ulterior motive. That's terrible. So now, I am thankful for all the great things and people in my life. Even the simplest things I give thanks/compliments, and I say it with sincerity. By doing so, I have seen how my life changes. I am a much happier person everyday. The right people also start being part of your life and the not-so right ones, start going away from your life too.

9. Focus On Others

Leaving a legacy is important to me. As the article states: No matter that you do, you will leave a legacy. The question is whether you'll be remembered for something positive or something negative. So, keep in mind during all interactions, that this might be someone's lasting impression of you. However, it has to be genuine. I have met many people in my life and I have great impressions of them, but I realise they don't remain a positive impression for long as it was truly not genuine. So it has to be genuinely positive always. As the saying goes, you do 10 great things and 1 terrible thing, everyone only remembers you for that 1 bad thing and forgets everything good you do. The 10 great things have to be genuinely positive, then that 1 not-so positive thing will be easily forgotten.

10. Get Some Physical Exercise

I must admit, this is difficult. I would always find excuses, something else I have to do or just be really too busy to have the time to do so. In the past month or so, since I started doing some sort of Physical activity, it has changed how I feel, my moods, and in fact my mind is clear when I do some exercise. Longer term effects are you look and feel good. So once you look good, naturally you would feel good :)

11. Quit Something

Its not like quit smoking or quit a vice. This article's view on Quit Something is for example to  eliminate 99 out of 100 great ideas, so you can focus on the few that really work. The only way to do that is to be willing to give up on things you've tried but aren't paying off--nevermind the sunk costs. So if it ain't working after a long time, and there's no pay off. Quit it and move along. 

12. Check Small Things

As the article states: Extraordinary people learn to delegate effectively. That can be scary, because it requires trust. You can't possibly check everything you've delegated, but you can check some small things, which in turn creates the possibility you'll check everything. This affects Points Number 1-5. Checking on small things doesn't mean micro-managing. Through mentorship, you build trust and check on the small things. I started doing that with 1 of my new staff, a real freshie and guess what she's doing well and now I have more time to do other things that are more important and truly require more attention from me.

13. Laugh... Especially At Yourself.

Comedy is definitely the flipside of tragedy. The article states, for all the passion with which they pursue their goals, truly extraordinary people keep perspective by recognizing that a well-led life is full of humor. Thus, the most important jokes you'll ever tell are the ones about yourself, even your failures. I am glad that this is one thing I am really good at doing and probably one of my key strengths that keeps me going positively in life and why many of my friends enjoy my company :) Laughter is truly the best medicine of life. The recent difference is now I have learnt to laugh off obstacles, challenges very quickly upon facing them again this is also part of Point Number 6 - Give Yourself A Break. Laughing is a great break from stress. Trust me. When I was unwell, I had a mantra and I wrote something called, Laughing About Cancer. And you know what I am sure it had a lot to do with me getting well.

14. Sleep

Ahhhh anyone who knows me, will tell you Sham works better with less sleep. In fact I used to sleep a max of 3-4hrs a night for close to 20years. I never understood why I need to sleep 8 hrs a day. I was doing well, I was productive, I was creative, I was great with 3-4 hours sleep. But I also know I was temperamental which causes my downfall. And when I am temperamental, I don't really think well and well that does cause a lot of downtime too. In the past few months, I have learnt to sleep. And boy oh boy oh boy, do I see a huge difference. My daily plans/to-do-lists needed 20hours a day previously. Now somehow with more sleep, I am able to complete my to-do-lists in 16 hours a day and also get more out of each day by spending a lot of time with the kids, knowing how to prioritise my time better and more effectively, not micro-manage so much and I am definitely more creative now than I have ever been! Plus my skin looks better, I feel better and much healthier too!

15. Continue Your Education

As the article states, lifelong learning is one of the keys to success. I truly believe that. Everyday I learn something new. No one can know everything. There's too much in this world for one to know it all. My fear of being old and not knowing much or falling prey to Alzheimer's disease also makes me want to continue my education daily. Knowing more can only help us grow even more.

16. Cultivate Outside Interests

All work and no play makes ... well, you know the rest. This is one point I totally live & breathe. Its also part of continuing my education. Learning new things and having a story to tell others. I live my life to max, with this mantra, I must try as many things as I possibly can in my lifetime. And with that mantra, I dare to say I have tried so many interests in my lifetime. Of course now, with better time management, I am able to do so even more.

17. Share Something Great

As the article mentions, extraordinary people always have something to share, and something truly interesting to talk about--a joke, a story, a bit of good news. Follow their lead. I do just that. Sharing is Caring. I am always the helpful one, giving lots of insights, share funny stories, good news to friends and family. Its also sharing positive vibes. When I share positivity out, others around me feel better and start being positive. I call it, a Great Cause & Effect. I am sharing this article now to all and I am sharing a little bit more. So why don't you too?

18. Always Smile

I tell my children everyday that they should always smile. Because when you smile, you naturally become happy. When I go through hiccups and I end up laughing it off and ends with a smile even whilst I am still going through the hiccups, it simply makes it a much better experience. A few days ago at my daughter's 1st ballet performance (which she didn't manage to attend many classes for or the rehearsals), I told her that whatever it is, just smile on stage even if she doesn't know the steps or unsure. Because when you smile, you will look great at doing what you're doing even if it isn't and have fun while doing so. True enough she smiled and melted our hearts away with her performance even if she didn't get it right in all the steps. It also gave her the confidence to perform. She told me because she was happy on stage, she knew she would be doing the right steps. And after a while on stage, she did. You could see the confidence levels going up.

19. Enjoy Everything

When you learn to enjoy everything in life, that means you see the positivity in everything. Which means you always smile, which means you will love everything, which means you will always laugh... see this cycle. How little simple things all lead to the others and are intertwined in life. I used to complain about many things and I was a temperamental person. Once I started enjoying everything, I became much less temperamental. As simple as I hate not eating yummy food (I am a foodie), I would be pissy and cranky as tasty food is important to me. When I used have a bad meal, I will end up being cranky, start nit picking and well not be such a nice person on that day. Now if I have a meal that isn't a tasty, I try to find the better side of it. I will say well at least it was cooked properly and I won't feel hungry after this and laugh off as to how that dish was made and I should perhaps try cooking that dish at home and see if I can make it better :) Immediately I enjoy this supposedly bad meal.

20. Experience Love

Love is an important thing in life. For most of my life, I yearn for love from others and thought that I didn't receive much or enough. I was also afraid to love others out of fear of not being loved back in return. Saying "I  LOVE YOU" is like a dirty word to me. But once I had my 2 daughters, Love is a wonderful thing. I love my children to bits and they have taught me to love and to receive love. I learnt to finally start loving myself. And once I did, I could finally love others and receive love too. I have never felt so much more love in my life the past 35 years till I do now. Love is a truly an amazing and wonderful thing. With love, I am learning to forgive and forget, to be happier, to trust and let go of the wrong kind of fear (the negative ones). Its not about only loving people, its also about loving life, loving things and loving the beauty of everything out there. 

These are the simple 20 things that any ORDINARY person can do daily which will make you EXTRAORDINARY in the eyes of closed ones around you. It seems easier said than done, but trust me, once you start doing a few of the points, the others just naturally come into place. In simpler terms, you become holistic. 

Start being Extraordinary :)

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Samsung vs iPhone vs BlackBerry. WHICH PHONE TO BUY!

Every time a new phone is launched in the market or one thinks about the need to buy a new phone... a lot goes through one's mind.

There is a few things to consider:
Who is more visible in the market
Which brand do I love more
Which phone is more cool
Which phone has the best technologies
Which phone has the best interface
Which phone is most value for money for all of the above
and the list can go on and on and on...

At this moment, my mind is going through all of the above because the S4 and iPhone 5S has just launched.

I fell in love with Apple's iPhone series as I did the launch from iPhone 3-3G-4. I was extremely well educated on the phone and its functions and I fell in love. I loved the APPLE brand. In fact I love it so much that in my home you will see: Macbook Air, Mac Mini, iMacs, Apple TV, iPhone, iPod, iPad, iPad mini... that is almost the whole range!

However, when Samsung launched the S3 and my best friend introduced it to me, the bigger screen and the Android apps being offered free compared to iTunes made me think otherwise. The S3's camera was also better than the iPhone's. Paired with a corporate offer, which made it cheaper and on a plan - I bought my 1st S3 after the iPhone 4S and I was very happy with this buy.

The Samsung S3 - currently my 2nd phone but mainly works as a camera

But as much as this would shock everyone, I am actually truly a BLACKBERRY fan! People laugh at me as I still carry my 'paperweight', 'extinct phone', 'dinosaur phone' and recently with all the job cuts in Blackberry and they are trying to sell the company off, my phone is now called the Phone That Soon Will Have No Brand!

Nevertheless, I carry a Blackberry Q10 (for my love of an actual keypad) and Samsung S3 now (for the cool factors of apps, great camera and big screen).

Blackberry Q10 - Currently my main phone

Until... recently with the launch of the new iPhone5S which takes really great photos (seen it with my friend's phone) I am absolutely tempted to buy the iPhone 5S.

The iPhone 5S which I am lusting for...

But just as I was certain it would be an iPhone 5S, I walked past the Samsung store and saw this SLR camera and S4 all-in-one! OH MY GOD - that is like a dream come true! Of course battery life will be terrible but imagine you have a Camera and also a Phone all built into 1.

The OH MY GOSH Samsung S4 Phone & Camera in One 

All these items are priced almost the same... so that makes it even more difficult to decide.

I will give myself a few more weeks before I decide. But any comments or suggestions anyone?

My fav Korean restaurant in KL

Ever since I was introduced to Korean food 17years ago when I moved to Sydney, I've never turned back. The Korean fever is huge now but if you lived in Sydney from 20years ago, Korean food was already big as there is a huge population of Koreans based in Sydney.

A lot of Korean food is Beef based and in Australia, beef is so yummy. Makes the Korean food there even much nicer. However, due to some personal reasons, I have given up eating beef so eating Korean food now is difficult... not much choices.

However, I have discovered this Korean joint which serves FAST, very REASONABLY priced and great TASTING Korean food! 

It is called Ko Hyang, www.kohyang.com.my. It started with 1 outlet in The Gardens which is where I discovered them 3 years ago. What I love about it, it has a chicken or beef for almost everything! So I can eat the Korean food that I normally can't in most places. 

So I ordered Bi Bim Bap the 1st time and I've never looked back! the portion is big, so full of really fresh vegetables, brown rice and marinated minced chicken. The egg is cooked perfectly and the red sauce is not too much or too little. When you mix it all up, it gives a really rich taste but feels light. Because of the huge portions of various vegetables in it, it is actually a REALLY healthy meal for kids. Thankfully non-fussy eating Alessi LOVES this dish. Whenever we talk to this restaurant, she knows what we will have and she will eat half of my huge bowl herself.

Bi Bim Bap Chicken

There's actually 2 choices: normal Bi Bim Bap or Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap. It is the same thing just one is served in a Stone Pot. I'd much prefer the Stone pot but it comes really hot and my daughter Alessi has no patience to wait for the meal to cool down :) 

The price is RM16.90 and RM17.90 respectively which is highly affordable for its taste, freshness and quality and also for its unlimited free cold appetizers and hot seaweed soup. Recently the cold appetisers are ikan bills (anchovies) stir fried to a sweet sticky dish, standard kimchi and sliced cucumber in almost a kimchi-like taste dish. Normally i would take the sweet ikan bills and mix it up with the rest of bi him bap. Gives the bi bim bap more texture rather than everything being soft.

The unlimited free cold appetizers: Cabbage Kimchi - Sweet Anchovies - Peppered Cucumber

This is a fortnightly ritual that I would do with my kids. Because Alessi shares half my portion, it wouldn't be enough for me so I would also order OH CHIEN (Malaysian Fried Oyster Omelette) as well to share. The other dish that is really lovely is Jap Chae - potato starch noodles. Normally, this is served with beef but here I can opt for with chicken.

How much we normally pig out as a family together!

With the kids enjoying our regular meal

So that's my favorite Korean joint. They have expanded their business and now available in many other locations. Hope you will enjoy it as much as we do!

Losing 40kgs after giving birth

Its hard to believe it but I had put on 40kgs (88lbs) in my 1st pregnancy!

I am...
1.71m (5'6") tall
used to weigh 64kgs

At that height and weight, I was considered big sized in Asia. I was tall but I have a huge frame and I have curves.

Exactly months before I got pregnant at 64kgs

I knew I was never the typical Asian size nor will I ever admit that I am slim. But the fact that I love to eat and I hardly exercised since I move to Malaysia in 2005-2006, my body was in pretty good shape.

During the pregnancy however, my passion for eating went to a whole new level and I began to eat a full meal almost every few hours. Time passed very quickly, I enjoyed my pregnancy and thoroughly enjoy my food! I knew I was putting on weight and lots of friends had told me that I was ballooning up.

However, the thought that I was eating for 2, it's ok you can eat like this when you are pregnant and you'll get away with it... all these self-excuse led to my weighing in 104kgs at the time I was going to give birth, thats 40kgs extra. I basically nearly put on the whole weight of a lot of my tiny Asian friends.

At time of birth, I weighed in 104kgs!

During that time, when I weighed in 104kgs, Asia's Biggest Loser was on TV. I admired how everyone lost so much weight so quickly. They were my size or smaller and lost all that weight but I knew that it required a lot of work which I wasn't willing to put myself through in a gym.

So I do what I know best - be a workaholic as always! I had to do the iPhone 4 launch which was a 3 day x 24hour event (Steve Jobs just passed away so everyone wanted to get an iPhone!) and the setup took 2 days + nights and preparation another 2 days beforehand and teardown was 1 day. So basically it was a whole week of barely any sleep again, non-proper meals, lots of running around, lots of carrying things like a labourer once again, carrying my daughter around whilst working and stress from work led to nearly 9kgs lost in practically 1.5 week! Unhealthy but then if you think about it, I was working like I was working out in the gym and watching my diet because I didn't have the time to eat big long meals like I usually do.

My 4mth old daughter strapped to me most of the time when I was doing my event

But 12 months of running around for work with a child strapped to me, multi-tasking, breast feeding and mainly just being really busy, weight started dropping off naturally. At the end of 12mths, I naturally lost 18kgs from mainly multi-tasking and working like a labourer at my then events business.

I breastfed for 1 year and it was time to wean my daughter off me. Perfect timing I had an event to run which required me to be running around Malaysia for 5days 4nights and there was simply no way I could execute this event with my daughter with me. With the wonderful help of my best friend and Godfather to my daughter, she was sent to Singapore to stay with him for 1 week. She was an easy baby to look after so he had no problems. That was the 1st time I was leaving my daughter for such a long period.

The weaning off, lack of sleep, running around for my event including in the rain, carrying lots of really heavy stuff, not having time to eat proper meals led to an instant huge drop. I lost 5.5kgs in 1 week! Not the healthiest or best way to lose weight but I did. So 16.5kgs more to go...

Work was really busy with so many huge events I had to run back to back and lots of overnight setups which my daughter would accompany me as always. By the time my daughter was 15mths old, I have lost a total of 31kgs from all my multi-tasking and dancing as well!

My 14mth old kept me busy even when I was working at 4am doing an event setup

The last 9kgs however were the hardest, the final bit of weight left simply didn't want to shed off. So a very good friend of mine suggested that I do a detox. And that I did for 10days coupled with lots of clubbing and dancing (due to my newfound confidence that my body as slowly coming back)... the weight did go off. I lost another 4kgs over 2weeks.

I started looking more regular when my daughter was 15mths old

The final 5kgs finally went off during my 1 week trip to India alone with my 18mth old daughter. The combination of being in piles of cloth (saree), heat, carrying my daughter everywhere, vegetarian food, lots of meditation and prayer and lots of walking did it!

In the temple during one of the prayer sessions

My mantra was that I must be 64kgs again (my original weight prior to pregnancy) before I can get pregnant the 2nd time around. I am glad I did it.

It wasn't easy though it sounds like it. So I respect all the overweight people who have lost of weight like the ones you watch on Asia's Biggest Loser.

But then again, if they can do it... 

So can I.

And if I can do it,

So can anyone else...

Just keep that thought that you must go back to your original size and you WILL!

At 64kgs again! Whoopee!