Tag Archives: life game

Start Showing Up

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If you knew me well, you would know that I love running (other than playing badminton, of course). While I can’t say I am a good runner, I do enjoy the process of just going out and about, letting the mind wander whilst breaking out good sweat. Going for a short run in the morning also helps me stay focused throughout the day (but I will leave this for another post).

Through this little hobby of mind, I have participated in a few long distance races and it usually go something like this:

Gets very excited to sign up for it > Stays motivated while training > Show up during race day > Start strong > And half way through the race, I start asking the question…

“Why did I put myself this torture?”

Did that sound a little like you, too?

The truth is, it is very easy to start something, but it is never easy to see it through. Be it starting up a new business, going to the gym, breaking a habit, or just sticking to the new year’s resolution you’ve written.

We give ourselves really good excuses like having a busy schedule, commitments, circumstances… but the one that takes the cake has to be – luck.

“I’m just not as lucky”

Yes, that is an excuse. I believe that this thing called ‘luck’ is merely a result of hard work, perseverance, relentlessness… and you being present. Most people ‘miss’ out on opportunities to be ‘lucky’ simply because they are unequipped, unprepared or simply not present to take up what it takes.

Our definition of luck is warped. We want to enjoy the final outcome without having to go through any of the process, expecting for it to literally just present itself at your doorstep – but it does not.

Imagine completing a full marathon without training, preparation, conditioning or actually showing up for the race – you will never complete it, let alone receiving the finishing medal. Luck will not auto-magically teleport you to the finishing line of the race! You will need to show up, run, and create possibilities for yourself. Maybe the weather will be great, maybe you’ll find a buddy to cheer you on, maybe there’ll be some special drink that will boost your energy along the way, and heck, maybe they’ll even give you a ride to a finish line and still award you anyway.

The thing is, you won’t get to experience the ‘luck’ or opportunity if you’re not even there to begin with!

So if you’ve been wondering why you haven’t got that physique you’ve been aiming for, or that dream career; you haven’t been exhausting your options to be in a position for that opportunity or ‘luck’ to happen.

Opportunity only comes to those who knock.

Start showing up!

How Words in Your Company Builds Culture

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Words are powerful. The right words used can motivate, inspire, build and encourage; but also to tear down, hurt and crush.

While that sounds like common sense, the words we use tend to roll out a little too freely and we justify that by calling it a freedom of speech or as a form of expression. And this freedom contributes to the culture you are building in your company, be it a startup or corporate organisation.

Culture is not something where you frame up in your board room nor is it a string of (vague) fancy words to sound cool. It starts and sticks with the smallest detail – like the conversations that happens surrounding work.

A negative complaint, a passing remark, a jab toward your superiors, clients or vendors, sarcastic responses, a common curse word or phrase when faced with an unfavourable situation may all seem very normal in a social context but can very well be contributing factors to productivity, morale and growth both individually and collectively within the company, and here’s why:

#1: Words stick

If you recall a random not-so-nice remark made by someone towards you, or just a simple compliment about your hair, that already shows that words do stick – and they do, no matter whether you like it or not. And for many, these words stay with you consciously or unconsciously for the rest of your career / life; and the negative ones haunt you at your lowest.

#2: Words affect your team

Words said in in jest are the worst! You may not have meant it literally when you said “Yea, the dude has always been lazy and useless to the team.” but this sentence alone can spark off many political sidelining within the team.

#3: Words affect yourself

“Crap! I’m an idiot!”. Say that often enough in every mistake you make and you’ll successfully crush your self worth, esteem and confidence over time.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying we should all be constantly positive with rainbows and unicorns in the sky, or that we should always be hyper-sensitive with what people may feel when we speak – that’s self limiting and frankly, will drive you crazy.

Instead, remember that the words we use are a choice. It’s easier said than done but if we remind ourselves of the bigger picture of what we want to achieve in our workplace and as a career, we can redefine and switch the words we choose to say to create a better workplace culture.

Culture starts with people, and that’s you.

Read: How to build company culture

My One Big Lesson Learnt in 2017

jan wong blog - lesson learnt in 2017
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The year was a train wreck, an avalanche, a catastrophe. I started the year with so much hope, aspirations and dreams. In fact, it was a year I felt that it will be the best yet; only to end the year with everything that can go wrong. Everything collided, went up in flames and caused much distraught from all aspects including mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. I hated the days, the nights, the celebrations – Christmas, now the new year, and practically everyday.

2017 became the longest year in my life

I never knew time could pass so slowly. As I struggled daily, I was still required to a strong front with friends, colleagues and at home. At other times, I’ll need to be the positive, motivational and entrepreneurial person I’m expected to be. People told me to “talk to someone”, “take things easy”, “chill”, “the darker it is, the brighter the light will be”, “pray”, and the list goes on but really, it’s easier said than done. Not forgetting those that gives “advice” but what they are really doing is to judge.

It has been a really dark year and when the K-Pop celebrity Jonghyun left his final note, I could relate. The words he wrote perfectly described how I felt – the emptiness, loneliness, the people around, their expectations vs mine, and why things aren’t exactly working out despite “encouragements”.

Nonetheless, here I am, typing this post 4 hours before 2017 ends, still alive and breathing despite still at my lows.

Through the many months of thinking, pondering, debating, evaluating, analysing and questioning, I came to realise the cause of all of it was a fundamental one.

I let my guard down

You see, I’ve spent my entire life building my career, trying to achieve what is expected of me as a business partner, an entrepreneur, the oldest son in the family, a leader in church, and a partner in my relationship. Does that sound okay to you? If you answered yes, that’s exactly where the problem was for me.

In my pursuit of career, I allowed other areas that are more important to slip, thinking that they could be compensated when the time comes and that I am capable to do that. I continued to pursue “success” over the years, having grown OpenMinds to where it is today with a growing valuation y-o-y in the millions with regional presence, having the privilege to coach and mentor startups, having the opportunities to share my knowledge across different media channels including TV, radio, printed and online media, and of course, the prestigious recognition given by Forbes on the 30 Under 30 Asia list.

I thought I was careful enough and that I could manage all of it – and that’s where I let my guard down. To be honest, I didn’t even know that happened. I allowed myself to be swept away by all that is happening thinking I am fully aware and capable.. only to realise that I am not in the end.

Because of that, I made a ton of mistakes, huge unforgivable ones that has caused many to hurt and severed relationships that I worked so hard to protect.. both knowingly and unknowingly. The guilt combined with the realisation, created months of dark, suffocating days.

What I’ve learnt (the extremely hard way) is that you should never, ever, let your guard down. It’s great to have big dreams and aspirations but in your journey of achieving them, never let your guard down. Never allow yourself to say “It’s okay, I’m bigger than the situation” no matter how capable you think you are.

The higher you go, the higher and greater the guard you need.

That’s my take on 2017 going into 2018. I’ll need to pick up whatever pieces I can find, rebuild my fundamentals, and put up my guards again. There’s no sugar coating it – it’s going to be an extremely tough one, but I’ll do it to the best I can.

What Would You Do If All Odds Are Against You?

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You’ve probably heard that one of the main attributes of an entrepreneur is the ability to take risks. However, what an entrepreneur actually does is to take CALCULATED risks. That’s right, they don’t take risks for the sake of taking it. They take risks because there’s something worth fighting for and have considered all options before taking the risk.

But what happens if all odds are against you?

Recently I stumbled upon a particular comic strip in Chinese which resonated quite a bit with me that I thought it’ll be great to share with you (I’ve translated the text to English for your viewing pleasure):

what would you do if all odds are against you? - english

click for larger image

Original comic (in Chinese)

The comic strip got me thinking – which citizen would I be in the comic strip? Would I be watching the live telecast in front of the television screen waiting for it to happen? Take the opportunity to rob the stores to get that 60-inch plasma television that I always wanted? Or would I try with whatever I have (or can) to face the problem (in this case, a meteor) head on?

While it may sound silly to face a meteor with a baseball bat…

Many ideas started off silly too. Let’s warp back in time for a bit, what would you say to Mark Zuckerberg when he was working on Facebook, during the prime time of Friendster? Or Apple when they were working on the iPad? Remember how everyone claimed that it was an oversized iPhone and that it’ll never sell?

The thing is, your ideas will constantly be challenged as you talk to people, or as technology advances and sometimes the odds really are against you. Maybe investors are not buying into your idea, your business partner disappeared, you’re losing money, loved ones aren’t being supportive or maybe you’re feeling that you can’t cope with the expectations of the shareholders anymore.

I’ve personally lost count on how many times I’ve went against the odds myself. There were smaller odds but definitely big ones with much at stake. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from them is that if they (challenges) did not happen, I wouldn’t be who and where I am at today.

The really question is – Are you ready to face the odds? 

Have You Stopped Improving Yourself? 4 Ways to Stay In The Game!

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I’ve always enjoyed the game of badminton and I’ve been playing the game ever since I could remember. I could safely say that I’ve been a decent player with some tournament wins here and there and have also learnt a great deal from this sport. As time passed, I got pretty busy. From playing the game everyday (in high school) to thrice a week and now, barely once a month. Needless to say, my plays naturally declined as I wasn’t playing enough to improve – and that got me thinking.

It is really the same in real life

I’ve known of some really talented tech guys when I first started exploring the industry and I’ve learnt quite a bit from them. However, over the years they’re seen repeating what they already know over and over again to the point where it became obsolete, especially when technology advances so quickly. To cut the long story short, they switched to a different industry. Mind you, they were experts before.

What does this mean?

Many great teachers will tell you that you stop improving when you stop learning, and it is true. No matter how good you are in what you do now, time CAN take its toll on you if you’re not constantly practicing, learning, improving and sharpening your skills. In fact, I think one of the most important trait of a teacher / expert / leader is the willingness to learn and to continuously improve as people will respect that.

A good example would be Mark Schaefer (@MarkWSchaefer) – he’s already good at what he does, he has his own business going, a huge blog community and he can as well just make money by selling his thoughts. But what I think made him so successful in what he does is that he never stops listening, he never stops learning and he never stops growing (which is the name of his blog community, by the way). I would also say the same for Robert Dempsey (@rdempsey), he never stops testing and experimenting on different marketing ideas and strategies and documents them on his site.

What should you do?

#1: Don’t be contented or comfortable on the level you’re at

Yesterday you’ve 10 Friendster accounts with thousands of friends and testimonials (those were the days) in every one of them… today, Friendster is no more. Are you ready to lose out just like that, knowing that you may have the ability to achieve what you could have achieved? Challenge yourself consistently.

It doesn’t need to be big but keep yourself on your toes. Spend some time daily to learn something new. Read articles, watch videos, do something that can help you improve your knowledge / skills in what you do.

#2: Stop giving excuses

Ah, how easy it is to put a task off. We are all master procrastinators at one point or another. The best part is that we often argue ourselves out of it. After all, it makes sense right? Wrong. Here’s the deal – if you’re not gonna make it work, nobody will! So if you really want to improve yourself, get moving!

goal setting checklist#3: Set achievable goals

I’ve been reading a number of posts saying new year resolutions don’t matter simply because you won’t fulfill them. I say that’s rubbish. You couldn’t fulfill them simply because you’re doing #2 or you’ve set goals that you may not have been able to achieve anyway! Set goals that are within your means to reach (at least of a start).

Set a short (smaller) term goal followed by a longer (bigger, accumulated) goal. You can’t possibly run for an hour everyday if you haven’t done that in years so start once a week then twice and slowly add to it. You’ll find your goals easier to achieve that way.

#4: Don’t be too hard on yourself

It is very easy to give up, trust me, I know. At times it seems as though all the effort was flushed down the gutter and you feel like throwing the towel. You know what, giving up is easy. But what makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur is that he / she does not give up.

If you ever find yourself in such a situation, you need someone that you can trust to be your support system. Whether it is a loved one, a family member, business partner or a friend, that’s where you should go to, vent, and move forward from there. I definitely have mine.

Have you ever found yourself falling back on what you (or used to) do best?

14 Attributes for Your Entrepreneurial Success from Silicon Valley Icons

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What makes a great entrepreneur? Is it the skills, the mindset, or perhaps the money? So I had a golden opportunity to attend a 2-day conference – Silicon Valley Comes to Malaysia and this conference brought together many great entrepreneurs including Shawn Fanning (co-founder of Napster), Jawed Karim (co-founder of YouTube), Jeff Hoffman (co-founder of Priceline.com), Konstantin Guricke (co-founder of LinkedIn), Naval Ravikant (founder of AngelList), Jonas Kjellberg, Paul Bragiel and many more to encourage and assist local entrepreneurs here in their endeavors.

Silicon Valley Comes to Malaysia

The two-day conference was filled with power packed sessions and the opportunity to network and build relationships with other entrepreneurs was amazing. I even bumped into Krystle (@mskrys) from Twylah for the first time beyond the avatar.

Okay, enough talking. Let’s (finally) dive into the 14 attributes of how you can make it as an entrepreneur I took home from the Silicon Valley icons themselves:

#1: Codes are the new literacy.

You cannot afford to be technologically illiterate when the world is now built on codes. Learn to code!

#2: Do something that can accelerate and you like.

Start something that is scale-able. Not because of the money, but because it is your passion.

#3: Know what your customers want.

Never get your friend to test your product. Go to the customers.

#4: Given a choice and a limited budget, spend on marketing, NOT an office.

You want to have an office like Google but that can wait. Focus on growing your business first.

#5: You cannot do this alone. Get a co-founder.

You’ll definitely need help. If not for extra hands, you’ll need him / her for morale support.

#6: You’re not as smart as you think you are.

The day you think you’re smart, that’s when you grow otherwise. Listen to what others have to say.

#7: Surround yourself with people smarter than you.

Don’t get intimidated by smarter people. You WANT smarter people to work with you.

#8: Play the role you play best and let others do theirs.

Never designate a role that others can’t play their “A” game in.

#9: Build your team around their goals. Not yours.

Have your team know what they want to achieve and work towards their goal. Support is important.

#10: Document your failure.

Never brush a failure aside thinking you’ve learnt from it. Get to it and examine the cause of the failure.

#11: Don’t hire resumes. Hire character and integrity.

Past experiences do not matter. Hire based on who they are and their contribution.

#12: Don’t change the work to fit the people. Your people should fit a specific business objective.

Don’t change your objectives because of your team. Have your team fit into your objectives.

#13: You will fail. More than once. Get over it!

Failure is a part of life. What makes you think you wouldn’t?

#14: Compile data, connect the dots and ask the big question – “What can I do today that I couldn’t yesterday?”

Be aware of what’s happening outside your comfort zone. Look out for opportunities that wasn’t made available yesterday.

My favorite – Q: “What is the secret to success?” A: “When you’re busy looking for that, I was busy working for it”.

Which of the above resonates with you the most?

Why Do People Forget the Basics and the Essence of #SocialMedia?

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In my previous post, I mentioned how keeping the basics right can actually bring about success in business or even in life for an individual. Right before I clicked on the “Publish” button – it got me thinking:

If being successful is as simple as just getting the basics right, why do people still fail to grasp the basics? What is it that is stopping them from succeeding in what they do – in business, on social media networks and in life?

It is not the techniques. It is not the skills. It is not that you do not know how. It is not the unavailability of guides or mentors. Sometimes, it is not even because you’re inexperienced (or very experienced). It is your MINDSET. That’s the component with the problem.

Here are 3 mindsets that may be holding you back from achieving success:

#1: Ignorance

Do you remember picking up that new piece of gadget, chucking the manual aside and begin fiddling with it immediately? That’s ignorance. You know that there is help somewhere (like, by searching Google) but it is somehow too bothersome. You prefer to have it hands-on to get working on something immediately, to learn from experience, but ended up taking more time than you should or missing out on a ‘killer feature’ on your gadget – and that could cost you.

#2: Common Sense / Know-it-all

The commonly known common sense isn’t really that common. Remember the times where you told yourself “Ah, I’ll never forget that. It’s common sense.” and you forget it when you need it the most? That happens because you’ve told your brain to put that aside and if you label all your findings and knowledge as ‘common sense’, you’ll never find them when you need them the most. I usually compile all useful resources into Microsoft OneNote. It isn’t the best software around, but it does what I need it to do – taking down notes and organizing them into separate categories.

#3: Complacent

When it comes to social media, learning happens everyday. You stop making progress the moment you decide to stop learning. Some businesses tend to relax when they’ve achieved what they set out to do thinking that the success stays with them. The truth is, your fans and followers can feel it when you’re laid back and eventually lose interest in you. It is important to keep your game up consistently and never remain too comfortable.

What do you think? What are the other thoughts that can derail one from being successful on social media?

How to: Be Successful in Business? Back to Basics

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Startup Weekend MalaysiaRecently I have been invited to the Startup Weekend Malaysia to experience the program and mingle around with people with great ideas. If you’re wondering, the Startup Weekend is a global initiative to assist aspiring (serious) entrepreneurs in making their first step to realize their business ideas. Each participant is given the opportunity to pitch their ideas to the room in 1-minute and the top 10 ideas (based on votes) will be selected and that’s where the real work begins – from forming teams, brainstorming, market research to prototype development.

The beauty of this program? Everyone leaves with a developed business idea. Cool, huh?

As I was listening to the individual pitches, observing and talking to these entrepreneurs, it made me once again realize the secret ingredient for success – whether it is in business, social media campaigns or even in life – and they really are the basics, nothing fancy or extraordinary.

One of the plenary sessions at the Startup Weekend Malaysia

Here are the 7 basic attributes to be successful:

#1: Dream

Every participant that came to the program had a dream – an idea, a business plan waiting to be fulfilled. They’ve probably been sleeping on it ever since it popped into their heads and they are just waiting for the opportunity to get it started.

What About You?: Do you have a dream? Do not be afraid to dream. Ideas only stop coming because you allowed it to. A rule – don’t set boundaries to your dream. Dream big!

Further reading: It’s time to dream!

#2: Passion

Even though the participants were only given 1-minute to pitch, their passion and enthusiasm is unmistakable. They are eager to see their business idea come to live and they obviously do not care if the rest thinks it is a silly / inviable idea. It’s theirs and they are proud that they own it.

What About You?: Do you have an idea but am afraid of what others might think? Stop yourself from thinking that way and let your passion take over. Sometimes, a silly idea turns great through passion – simply because you never stopped believing.

#3: Action

Passion is put to test when the participants are required to form teams to actually work on their ideas. This is where the participants had to really do something about it – to make the idea work, beyond just talking and sharing.

What About You?: Maybe it is time for you to take action and put that passion of yours to good use. Sitting on it won’t do any good. Action makes things happen.

Further reading: Passion without Action is dead!

#4: Determination

Let’s take a step back – even before the participants had to form teams, they had to gather votes from everyone present as only 10 ideas with the highest votes will be given the opportunity to form teams to drive the idea further. I particularly remember this participant, Aaron, that came up to me saying “Sir, will you give me an opportunity to share my idea with you?”. His idea wasn’t extraordinary but his passion and determination (and preliminary idea research) won my vote.

What About You?: How determined are you to make your idea a reality? Remember, it is always easier to give up but being successful in most cases, is like running a marathon. It’s a long journey but the reward is great.

#5: Team Work

It is interesting to see how the teams were formed at the Startup Weekend. Almost every team were looking for a developer, marketer and finance person simply because they understood that they cannot do it alone.

What About You?: No man is an island. You’ll definitely need a team to make up for your weaknesses. Get your team together and you’ll find that that’s the best decision you’ve ever made! It also helps you focus on what you need to do – managing and keeping the vision intact.

#6: Focus

From time to time again the participants were reminded to build a MVP – Most Viable Product, forgoing fancy features and functions and focusing on the must-haves, the actual benefits that the consumer wants.

What About You?: It is easy to get caught up with the cool features and add-ons of your plans but if you do not have anything to begin with, your ideas are nothing to begin with. Focus on getting the core benefits right THEN the add-ons. Remember, build a MVP!

Further reading: The 2 Secret Ingredients for a Successful Product

#7: Anticipation

People say that when Apple is building the very first iPhone, they already have the iPhone 4 and the iPad in mind, just waiting for the right time to roll them out. Build with the future in mind! Anticipate opportunities for expansion and problems that may occur.

What About You?: It is all about preparation. A scalable product will definitely have a larger potential and you may just capture the attention of investors are venture capitalists. Always be on your toes – you’ll never know when you’ll need to sprint forward ;)

Do you remember the time when you were just starting out? What drove / motivated you? I would love to hear your experience :)

 

Setting the Temperature: How Hot Are You?

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Have you heard of the term, party pooper? These guys are no fun. They step in and very often than not, kills the mood of the entire environment. How about people filled with enthusiasm and zeal? Are they contagious?

Believe it or not, people have the ability to change the temperature of the room, from hot to cold and vice versa and how hot (or cold) it can go depends on that particular someone – in most cases, the leader.

The leader sets the temperature of the team and the environment he / she is working in. The leader’s goals and beliefs will be transferred to the environment, affecting the performance and the mindset of the surrounding people and will eventually evolve into what it is called ‘culture’.

“In other words, the leader can be liken to a termostat where he / she sets the temperature of the room.”

Having the right temperature

Many books on leadership often talk about how leaders should be always a step ahead and how they should lead by example. What they really meant is that by being a step ahead, they are constantly ‘heating’ up the room temperature through action for others to ‘warm up’ to it – an environment that allows one to feel uncomfortable just staying put and has to keep up / adapt to become comfortable again.

Notice how authors do not talk about being too far ahead of their team? Heating up the temperature too much kills whatever that is inside it. I’m not against goal setting and vision casting, but sometimes a vision too big can become insignificant, impersonal and unreachable (e.g. we want to have a profit of 10 million within the first year for a start up company).

It is important for leaders to know how to control the temperature in the room. Personal conversations, corporate visions, individual goals, support, your mind set and etc are all part of setting the temperature right.

“The trick is really to have a vision that your team can see for themselves and to take ownership, a goal that is challenging yet attainable – and be there to make it happen with them!”

a leader sets the room temperature

Let’s heat things up

What is the level on your termostat? Are you hot? cold? Or just at room temperature? Effective leaders changes the climate of things when they are around and you can definitely do that too! It starts with yourself!

Have you been into a ‘hot’, ‘cold’ or ‘room temperature’ situation before? I’d like to hear your experience :)

A Daily Race Against Time

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In case you’re wondering – this site also reveals part of my happenings in life, injecting a little bit more flavour to the site as a whole; something lighter than the usual information dosage, especially for the weekend :)

It has been a really busy week and it would seem that it will only get busier all year long! It has already been almost a month since I started lecturing part time and it has been fun thus far (except for the preparation of  exam papers). Somehow attending classes as a student seemed like a drag but it is the other way round when given the opportunity to share – or maybe it’s just me – the opportunity to share with the students, future entrepreneurs, is really something :)

Hot Chili Dark ChocolateThe project for the largest chocolate retailer in Malaysia just went full swing! We are now in the midst of compiling photos of yummy chocolates to first work on the website. The website is usually the first apparent change for a online positioning project after thorough investigation and discussions with the company’s stakeholders. Websites today should be compatible with all modern browsers, mobile devices and for a chocolate business – pictures, pictures and more pictures!

With over 300 different types of chocolate, it’s gonna take some time to have them all up. Fancy a Hot Chilli Dark Chocolate, anyone?

A couple of projects were also launched in the past week including the 2nd Malaysia’s Online Fashion Entrepreneurs’ Weekend! Going beyond last year’s success, MOFEW 2011 is gearing up for twice the size, twice the fun and twice the exposure – once again being the largest gathering of online fashion entrepreneurs in Malaysia to highlight the online fashion scene and the people behind the industry. Check out the promotional video:

To think of it, it is only the beginning of March – a whooping 9 more months to end 2011 with a big bang! It’s definitely a busy year with more projects in the pipeline but it’s gonna be great!

What have you been up to? :)