Piggy’s Blog - Journey of Success

With all the talks about personal improvement and taking control of personal finance, one may wonder how on earth can we consistently stay disciplined and not to be distracted by seeking momentary pleasure and a hedonistic lifestyle. Or just take some other easy way out. To which, I quote and I believe…

When there is a will, there is a way.

This applies to all scenarios in life. Sometimes you face problems in life. Sometimes you want to get rid of a bad habit. Sometimes you have a dream yet accomplished. Sometimes you have a hobby you want to pick up. When you encounter all these scenarios, and you frequently would think, “How should I go about this?” But you also frequently skip a most important initial step.

Find Out Why, Realize the Motivation, Dig Up Your Desire

People often start themselves off in the wrong foot by losing focus and asking the wrong questions. It is not really about how, fundamentally. It is about why. You need to ask yourself why you want to do that certain things first. You NEED to clarify to ourselves the reasons behind the action. You need to find that flaming desire inside, light it up, and pour gasoline on it, by crystalizing the why. ONCE you are able to grasp the why, the how will come more naturally because you will keep trying and you can follow through with much less difficult because there is a driving force behind the action.

You must think clearly about and define the “why” because sometimes you think you know but the idea is only vague in you mind and not certain, if you don’t spend time trying to grasp it. When you know precisely why, you become more passionate, energized, driven, and willing to understand and follow through with the how. If the why does not exist or is not a crystalized thought, it is likely you will not be able to finish what you are trying to do.

Like I said, this applies to all aspects in life. Some examples…

• Want to get rid of bad habit? Find out why. (ex. mal-effect on health, dislike by closed-ones…)
• Want to have your finance under control or save money? Find out why. (ex. retiring early and luxuriously, buying a house…)
• Want to learn something? Find out why. (ex. current job sucks and must have a career change, or just want to feel better about myself! etc.)

I think you know what I am trying to get at by now. It is the main step in the process to make up your mind and commit to do something 100%. So next time you are trying to decide if you want to do something or you face a delimma. Ask yourself why and find that desire inside yourself first. If you can’t, then maybe you should not be doing it. If you can, the how gets a lot easier knowing why.

As you can see, this blog has a new look! I think the new theme provides a cleaner look to the site and should make it easier for readers to concentrate on the entries and also to find their ways around. I try to stay away from all the fancy themes and images, and hence, less tiring for readers’ eyes, as I believe a blog is more about readership compared to those fun fancy web applications out there.

My goal is to provide the best experience to all of you visitors of the blog, just as my constant strive to improve myself.

Therefore, I would love to hear any thoughts on your mind :)

This topic spins off nicely from my last one suggesting people to worry about others so much as to make decisions under that influence.

Quoting the articule Don’t Worry. Be Happy:

You know who’s responsible for that financial angst you’re suffering – that uncomfortable feeling that you should be earning, and spending, more, only you can’t? No, not your stingy employer or the IRS, but worse. People who are theoretically on your side: your friends, co-workers, and neighbors.

And I’d say, people not just compare themselve with their peers financially that leads to great stress. They also compare on fame, status, or any other statistics they can come by. Even worse, sometimes they compare themselves with the wrong targets, such as celebrities.

It’s pretty easy to put an end to this. Think about with more than 6 billions people on earth, when will we finish if we try to compare ourselves with everyone? Of course we will long be dead before we are done :) Each one of us is born with different backgrounds, places, and times. With all the existing variables, there is definitely no same result. What I’m saying is that we cannot lose ourselves in chasing all these other people materialistically, financially, or on fame. It’s almost like chasing shadows, which can never be caught.

We have to reach an agreement within oureslves that we are not here to become like others. We are here to be ourselves. And with our own abilities and our own hands, we will improve ourselves in ways we direct ourselves toward and reach goals of which we identify ourselves. Again, aim for tomorrow’s ourselves becoming better than todays’.

Like running on a track, if we keep looking back or sideways of what others are doing, we will only run slower.

Before hitting the movie, 300 (Spartans!!!), at Saratoga 14 AMC Theater on Saturday, my friends and I hit the Sushi Boat Restaurant in the vicinity for dinner.

All the sushi (including a lion-king type roll) tastes decent, the salmon was fresh on the nigiri, and price was appropriate for the portion. The boats that go around are constantly being filled unlike another sushi boat I went to near work. All in all, I would return there again.

Reminder: I’m a big Japanese food fan :)

We all live in some form of communities, big and small, among people. Therefore, we have no ways of avoiding people. Everyday we’re surrounded by them, at home with family, at work with colleages, at social events with friends, or on streets with strangers. As such, we hear things people say and observe how people act AND pertaining to this post’s topic - we hear things people say about us, see how people react to us, and what images they have for us.

The problem arises when we get so caught up in them and become affected. We start to worry what other people have to say about us. We live in constant worry and fear others having negative opinions and thoughts on us. We are afraid they see and label us as freaks, weirdos, geeks, clowns, jerks, or whatever social cliche out there. As this trend starts its engine in us, it escalates as we meet more people and the worry and fear keep on increasing.

Consequently, we fear to do many things and our productivity decreases, inhibited by our fear. Sometimes we even give up on striving to improve ourselves, which could make us different from the majority leading to labels and criticism. That leads me to the quote, “The greatest fear in life is fear itself.”

If we constantly worry and fear and do nothing because of that, we will always remain in the same place! If we cannot understand that and move on, we will make no progression in relationship, career, or life. Worry and fear become our greatest road blocks. It is about the realization that worrying and fear will not change reality for us, which begs the question, why the heck are we doing it? Until we can identify them, face them, and conquer them with awareness and rationalization, we will forever be bogged down.

We do not make decisions on what words come out of other people’s mouths or what they think. Consequently, we should not worry so much about what others have to say or think about us because we cannot change other people. Everyday we make decisions with the goal to make things better for ourselves and the people we care about. So rather, the decision is to change and imporove ourselves in turn, creates a character in us that will provide strong influence in the people around us, but that is not the main concern. The main concern is yourself, and the influence is just a result. Chaning other people is not the concern because that will never be guaranteed because people could simply have different experience and perspectives or they may just be jealous, and that’s too bad. That is not the concern. You have made the best decision you can to change and focus on yourself. As Jet Li said, “Do your best, it’s good enough.”

Make decisions with self in mind. And by “self,” I mean a person’s own well-being, values, and priorities that he holds true to. Stop your worry and fear due to other people! When you get yourself straight, other things will slowly become as a result.