Quote - Question to Self

"The important and only vital question is, how much greater, finer, am I than I was yesterday? Have I fulfilled my possibilities, made the most of my potentialities?"
— Edward Weston

QW #5 - Success Tip

(For success), you need to believe you have gotten the big things right and only need to fix the tiny details.

- advice given to Kirsti Alley from her partner on DWTS in order to have the right mindset to keep moving on and to never give up.

Love - USPS

Mail comes 6 of 7 days...it comes when rainy, snowing, cold, and even at times of disaster. Like Karl Malone, the USPS always delivers

We might get annoyed at the increase of rates but only when you look at the private alternatives that you will see just how great the USPS is...not to mention how most workers are nicer than the high school dropouts working at UPS and Fedex stores...

Check below at the difference in price for this 0.8 lb letter I need to send today. $100 for a letter? You have to be kidding me! God bless the United States Postal Service for not robbing us over a simple mail delivery. At FedEx rates, it will be more worth it to just fly myself to Thailand. I take back every bad word I ever said about the USPS. They are great! I love them!

Wisdom - Success

Look at the following list of people...what do they all have in common?

Warren Buffett
Donald Trump
Oprah Winfrey
Rachael Ray
Jamie Oliver
Howard Stern
Jim Rogers
Bill Gates
Hugh Hefner

They are all:

a. successful
b. in love with their job
c. made riches from extending who they really are

The super successful are successful because of their ability to be more of themselves, not less. They don't fake who they are. They found out who they really are and shaped their careers and lives to fit their interests and personalities.

Warren Buffett =
Donald Trump = cocky real estate magnate = Made a fortune from a reality show based on him
Opray Winfrey
Rachael Ray = loves food and loves to talk to people = tv chef turned talk show star
Jamie Oliver = loves food and has a good heart = start restaurants and projects helping the world through food
Howard Stern = loves controversy = most popular shock jock
Jim Rogers = cocky and loves learning about the world = travels the world investing in what makes sense
Bill Gates = computer geek = makes Windows
Hugh Hefner = loves beautiful women = makes playboy

Key to Success
1. learn who u are
2. be more of who u are...study what interests u, act the way u feel most natural
3. when decision time, always pick the path that mirrors who you are...

Tips - Phone Interviews

After a successful interview with EPIK the day before yesterday, I know what i should continue to do in the future and what to change...here are my tips:

Do:

• post not pages on the wall on list of weakness, strengths, top Questions probably get asked (with answers), lesson plans, ideas, stories
• handwrite big description of each sheet of notes in Red ink or a marker (ie. accomplishments, weaknesses, questions, etc)
• practice answering questions outloud in the exact manner you want to answer the complete question during the interview
• imagine having success during the interview and the great feelings u have afterwards
• answer the question + give 1 supporting statement in under 1 minute
• tab up multipage page documents (applications) with handwritten table of contents notes
• stand up while talking (louder voice)
• smile and show enthusiasm
• do mock questions and practice walking to the corresponding note sheet
• close your door
• reread over and over your 60 second sell and be very familiar with your 5 selling points
• allow for silence after you finish your question (they are just writing notes...just wait...shows confidence)
• use hand motions when talking to slow down talking speed
• allow for slight pauses and slower annunciated speech to allow self to gather thoughts and to emphasize points
• have an answer to every possible question u can think of that they might ask (you should not be surprised by any question if u were fully prepared...if surprised, u were lazy and ill-prepared)
• relate every question back to atleast 1 of your selling points
• do something enjoyable like watching music videos or listen to your favorite music prior to the interview
• take control of the interview by your answers.
• turn off any cell phones or alarms in the room
• practice over and over 1 or 2 great stories that can be used as accomplishments or difficult situations - very likely to be asked about it
• take notes on what they are asking so u can refer to it during or after the interview
• sound positive, energetic, and courteous.
  
• make it a goal to make them smile or laugh during the interview
• write down their name and use it when saying thank you in ending the interview
• have questions ready
• use printed paper for notes (better than PC)
• research the company and any thing they might ask you about...best to have notes on it on the wall to refer to as well
  

Don't:

• write too much on the note sheets - only 1-5 words per line...purpose of the notes is not to read, its to give an outline..too much writing hurts u
• allow yourself to get off topic
• babble because you feel the answer is too short (it weakens your points and makes them forget your initial arguments) - if it really is shorter than they want, they will ask for followup questions
  
• add new arguments after a question is fully answered
• answer questions that go way off point of your 5 selling points
• allow them to give you a multipart question (if it happens, write notes!)
• give more than 1 supporting statement unless necessary. (you are just making it more difficult on yourself and weakening your initial and best argument)
• ask more than 1 question. The time to ask questions is after your pass the interview. During the interview, extra questions can only hurt their impression of you. (remember that more than likely, you can get better answers online or from another source anyway)
• use your computer during the interview...frustration is possible if you can't find what you want...and it forces you to be a stressed out sitting position. better to just have notes hanging on the wall. (the new job will pay for all the ink and paper that you will use...it's a good investment)
• feel the interview is over after their questions are over...it is only over after you hang up. don't lose focus and get sloppy with your speech. stick with the gameplan. time to celebrate and be casual after the phone call is over.
• take the interview lightly. You can never be too prepared. Remember that today's preparations is tomorrow's successes
  

**most advice was learned from "60 seconds and you're hired"

Q #3 - Age

Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

- anonymous from Twitter Feed

Q #2 - Positive Attitude

"The more often I have a good attitude, the more often i have a good day."

- The One Minute Teacher

#2 - Books

I am thankful for books. They fill a void that nothing else can fill. It gaps that break between wanting to be productive but also lazy. Reading is relaxing and comfortable...but at the same time, because it is a learning experience, so it is productive and a good use of time. You can feel great for being able to lie down and relax while at the same time be proud that you have improved yourself as a person today. Its the best of both worlds...and when you factor in that books are free because of the good libraries in this world, it really is one of the greatest things ever!

I used to despise reading. I thought it was a waste of time and totally boring. This of course was because all i thought of as books were the boring literature we had to read in english class and write complicated book reports for. They were of stories i had no interest in. It was not until college did i pick up a book i was interested to read. That sparked my interested a little but it wasn't until Japan when i decided to get a book to read called "memoirs of a geisha" did i realize how much fun reading can be. I was able to go anywhere, open up a page, start reading and be transported to another world and able to escape my current situation and learn about another person's perspective...From those early reading days of fiction, i was able to branch off into food related books and then motivational and business books. Now I feel as though there is not enough time in this world as there are too many books I want to read. I look forward to going to the library nearly as much as i look forward to hanging out with friends or cooking...in fact, many times i even prefer reading to going out.

I wish i found out this great thing called reading a long time ago...but i am very happy that i still found it at a relatively early age. I am reading way more than most of the people I know and i think i am improving leaps and bounds because of it. there are many ways to improve and to learn but there are few as fun and relaxing as doing it through books. Bless them as they make life more interesting, fun, and relaxing...

It would be hard to go somewhere and just sit there doing nothing. It also sucks to do nothing when there is nothing to do. With a book though, even if the weather is good or bad or I am all alone, i can still have a great time and get much joy in the day. Its an incredible thing and i am forever thankful

QW #4 - Everything is Practice

i think choking and giving up are both results of thinking of events more of the main event than of practice. It is when we put too much emphasis on it and not allow failure to happen that we get disappointed. And as any person who has been successful in anything in life, failure is part of the natural process. There is no avoiding failure. It is just part of the path...Get through it and u are one step close to success. As i read in a book recently, it is best to look at the success path as more of a U shape than a uphill climb...u start high, fall hard, hit rock bottom, and finally improve your skills and mentality and go higher.

so what do i recommend? I recommend viewing every opportunity and every effort as just practice. There are no main events. there is no real thing. It is all practice. When you view something as practice, you only care about improving. You don't care about the score. You are excited to try out new techniques and to learn. You don't have the added burden of not living up to expectations or falling short of being the best. It doesn't matter in practice. The goal of practice is just to do and to learn. And that is how we should approach everything in life.

So, here is my rule of thumb:

1. view every attempt as practice. there are no main events. everything is practice
2. think up new techniques for every practice. That way it continues to be exciting and never gets boring.
3. enjoy the fact that you are doing it and improving your skills.

* i thought of this when i was playing tennis with rino yesterday. i was doing better than normal and wanted to give up because i wanted to end on a high note. i wanted to end it by being able to say that the score was close and i was able to play well. and i was afraid that if i keep playing that i would lose and all that will be remembered was that i lost. i was scared to do worse and "fail". It was only when i realized that it is just practice. it is not a real match and even if it was, that is still practice. as with every grand slam final for federer is practice for him to improve as a player, so to are every matches i play. This mentality helped me work hard for a few more points then i got bored. That meant that just seeing it as practice was not enough. I needed to find ways to spice things up...that is why viewing it as a match is good...it makes it more interesting but there are many drawbacks to that. So i needed to think of another way to do it but without the drawbacks...and my solution was to find new techniques i want to work on continually during the practice. in doing this, i am always focused on something and can't get bored. I will get joys from trying out the new technique and feel that i have used my time and effort wisely...and that is how all this came about...

Q #1 - Traveling

My greatest pleasure (in traveling) is in being wrong.

- Anthony Bourdain

QW #3 - opportunities

Taking full advantage of your opportunities is one of the toughest things to ever do. When in a situation, we are always seeking better and to avoid pain...this usually leads to laziness and wanting to avoid hard work even though that hard work might bring many great experiences...

Cure: Think about all the opportunities u are given because of your current job / situation / age / location, etc...From this list, you can find things u want to do and can do now that might never be available later...its hard work to do this and against the natural tendency to avoid pain, but in the end, u will have more positive and enriching experiences as a result

Think of how much more i could have learned at a certain job, in a certain location, with a certain person...so much opportunity and we ignore it everyday so we can go home early to sleep, escape in a book, or watch tv to numb the brain.

QW #2 - regrets

Short term regrets are in things we DO, long term regret is in things we DON'T do.

This is the difficulty with choices sometimes. We hurt most just after making a bad decisions but when we look back on our lives, we hurt most from the times we did not act.

Knowing that hurt is unavoidable in life and that should regrets are to be expected is the first step to better decisions. By accepting this inalienable yet sad truth about life, we can focus on doing things to momentarily take the small hurts in life but able to look back and not have the big hurts from huge regrets.

QW #1 - present

When the sun is out, we believe it will shine all day (but thats not the truth), then its dark and cold, we believe it will never end (and that also is not true).

Seems as though our problems lie not in not living in the present but getting too fixated on the present being the absolute truth...(and that is course not true)

ROT #2 - Bless Them

Rule of Thumb:

If feeling inferior or in the habit of comparing oneself to others, just say "Bless ______ for being _____".

• do it for anyone you see for anything you might see in them that you wished you had
• can be a car, a job, a physical attribute, a girlfriend, anything
• then start doing it for everything else around that you wish u had...in blessing u are setting yourself up for getting.
  

Why does it work?

• i read it in a book
• the change in focus is huge...
• complimenting others even if they can't hear it is a form of giving that makes u feel good
• when focused to find good things of them, you start to focus on things that are good about everything around you, including yourself
• it changes your focus from your flaws to their successes...instead of looking down on yourself, u are complimenting them.
• It focuses you on what u are jealous of...turns a subjective overall jealousy to a pinpointed objective thing
• allows you to see that its a certain thing (that might be possible to achieve in the future) and not an overall thing that i can never attain

ROT #1 - Down? Do Something!

Rule of Thumb:

When feeling down, just do something!

• first try to do something productive (work related, exercise, learning)
• if can't do that, then find anything active that involves interaction with people or things. (don't just stare out the window, mindlessly walk, or watch tv...needs to be active)

Why does this work?

• I am happiest and most confident when i am busy and doing something
• today i was feeling down and when tenant forced me to take out the garbage, the act of doing the garbage made me feel great afterwards despite really not wanting to do it at all
• when feeling down on saturday, i just walked around Lucky's and drove the car but felt like shit still...if i just did some work or did something i felt was productive, then i would probably have felt better as it allows me to focus on something else.
  

#1 - Beautiful Women

What fun would life be without beautiful women? They make walking around interesting...they make shopping fun...and they make commercials worth watching...Beautiful women is the proof that life is great, perfection is possible, and god is great!

Bless these women as they are #1 on my list of things to be thankful for in life.