How to Apply the Secret - The Stick Man

Bob Proctor uses little stick men to explain how our mind works, how we think and create our personal attitude and overall view of life.

Those were the days

Those were the days.......when life was young and gay

Those were the days

NICE!!

Congratulations to all 2011 students of SMTDLM for their excellent SPM results. You are all magnificent. We wish you all the best in your future undertakings. Remember, this is only the beginning of your adventure in life. So, always keep God in your hearts and never fear the future. 

With love, from all English teachers of SMTDLM

The Economy Stimulus Story

In the midst of the European sovereign debt crisis, I would like to share with you a story that I came across a few years ago about the economy and how it is stimulated through spending. Here's the story:

The story started with a rich tourist came to a town in which everyone living there was in debt. The tourist put down a 100 dollar note for the hotel owner as a deposit while he went round to check the conditions of the rooms. With the 100 note on hand, the hotel owner quickly ran to pay off his debt – his supplier, the butcher. The butcher received the money and he quickly settled his debt with the cowherd. Next, the cowherd used the receipt to pay off his debt with his supplier of feed and fuel. And this supplier ran to pay off his debt to his creditor - the prostitute, and finally, the prostitute went to the hotel owner and settled her debt with the hotel owner with the same 100 dollar note.

The hotel owner then put the 100 dollar note back on the counter as it was the deposit of the tourist. The tourist decided not to stay and took his money back. 

After all these drama, amazingly, the whole town is now without debt and everyone looks to the future with a lot of optimism. In the final sentence of the story, it says: “This is how the United States Government is doing business today.”

“Does the story make any sense?” I’m sure most of you are pondering hard about this story. In fact, I’m truly amazed that this little story has embraced a number of important economic concepts that I’m going to explain next.

First, the story has brought out one major economic theory - the Keynesian mulitiplier theory. The initial 100 dollar note has changed a number of hands, from the hotel owner, to the butcher, to the cowherd … and back to the hotel owner. Starting with 100 dollars, the economy has created 600 dollars worth of market transactions. In order for the Keynesian multiplier theory to function, the initial 100 dollars has to be an autonomous (independent) injection in the form of investment, government spending or exports to the economy. In this case, the rich tourist’s 100 dollar note is treated as exports because the rich man is a foreign tourist, the money is considered as an outside independent source of injection to the economy. (For simplicity, I have left out the multiplier formula here)

Next, we come to the most important concept of the multiplier theory that says that the injection of money creates round after round of spending. In other words, the cycle of ‘one man’s spending creating another man’s income’ repeats itself round after round just like the story.

But the story says each of them “pay back” their individual debt, not “spending” as stated in the multiplier theory. I would argue that the spending has been performed before each one received the 100 dollar note, which means they spend first and pay later. Just like most of us are doing now.

So, did the people in the town really get rid of their debt? The answer is “Yes!” 

Because during each round of spending, income is created at the receiver’s end. This means that no matter what is the source of income (be it borrowed money or earned money), the economy is stimulated in the form of more economic activities created by the many rounds of spending. As long as the rate money earned is faster than the rate of debt increased, by theory, we can settle the debt. But in real world, most government in the world is building their debt at a much faster rate than the collection of taxes because in a democratic society when the government is elected based on people's votes, the ruling party tends to run into budget deficits. Hence, this is how most of the governments in the world are doing business today!

Lifting the seedlings to promote growth

 

Once upon a time, there was an inexperienced farmer in ancient China who was always impatient. Whenever he did anything he wanted to see result quickly. 

One day he planted some rice seedings in his paddy field. He was very eager to see them grow. Day after day he would go to his paddy field to watch how the seedings were doing. Of course there was nothing discernible. He became impetuous. "Why not I do something to promote their growth," he said to himself. 

Thinking it was a good idea to lift the seedings a little bit so that they looked taller, he went into the field and lifted all the seedings an inch higher.

He thought he was smart to have done that. He went home happily and bragged to his family about what he had done, little realizing that he had just devastated all the seedings.

So don't become overly impatient or enthusiastic and do something as stupid as what the farmer had done.

The Lottery of Life – Would You Re-Draw?

Lots of people I meet complain that they don’t have the luck to achieve the success and wealth that they want. “If only I was luckier, life would be a lot easier and I would be a lot happier”, they would say. Many people pray of the day they could draw that lucky ticket and win that million dollar lottery that would change their life.

What many people do not realize is that the fact that they have been lucky enough to be one of the few winners of the biggest lottery of all….the lottery of life! They were lucky enough to draw the ‘right ticket’ and be born where they are.

Imagine that 24 hours before you were born, God gave you a bowl of 100 tickets. You had to draw one ticket that would determine your sex, country of birth, wealth, intelligence etc.. What would have been your chance to end up where you are now?

Let;s look at the odds. If you were to take the entire earth’s population and shrink it to 100 people (represented by 100 tickets), with all existing human ratios the same, it would be made up of the following:

49 would be female, 51 would be male
80 would live in low-cost housing. 20 in comfortable housing.
67 would be unable to read. Only 33 would be literate
1 would have a university education. 99 would not be able to attend university
50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation
33 would be without access to a safe water supply
16 would have access to the Internet
17 would live in a developed country. 83 live in underdeveloped countries

If you were given the chance to turn back time and go back to 24 hours before you were born, would you choose to return your current ticket and re-draw a new ticket from the 100 again? If not, then consider how lucky you are!

If You Want To Stand Out, You Have to Be Willing to Take Massive Rejection.

One thing I have learnt about life is that if you want to stand out of the crowd and be somebody who makes an impact in the world, you have to be willing to take massive rejection and criticism. It is the price you have to pay.

 In fact, you know that you are making a positive difference in the world when you are loved by people, while inevitably hated by others. The important thing is to of course be loved by alot more people than you are hated. If nobody hates you, it means that what you are doing isn’t big enough to make a mark in the world.

Think of these people who have shaped the world:  Martin Luther King Jr, Barack Obama and Mahatma Gandhi. Of course I am in no way comparing myself to them. However, I admire them and their story gives me strength to deal with the rejections I get in my life.

Mahatma Gandhi made a huge difference to not just India but also to the world. He liberated India from the British and united his people. He was one of the most peace loving guys on earth. Yet he was also hated and assassinated.

Martin Luther King Jr, fought for civil rights for blacks and had a dream that blacks could live in peace and equality among whites. Because he lived, a black man can become the President of the US and a poor black girl can grow up to become a billionaire (Oprah Winfrey). Again, not everybody accepted his views. He was hated so much by radicals that he too was assassinated.

To Be Successful in Anything, You Have To Take Massive Rejection

The lesson I would like to share here is that if you want to be a successful and exceptional person who makes a mark in the world, you have to be willing to take lots of rejection. You have to be willing to be criticized, hated and laughed at by the thousands of jealous critics out there.

The main thing that stops people from setting goals and taking action is their FEAR of rejection. They fear being rejected by customers, so they don’t make the phone calls. They fear criticism, so they dare not volunteer and take up leadership positions. They fear being rejected, so they dare not approach the man/woman of their dreams. They fear rejection, so they dare not voice their opinions. (I have a lot of these fears).

The Only Real Prison Is Fear, And The Only Real Freedom Is Freedom From Fear- Aung San Suu Kyi

So, don’t worry so much when people do the same to you. Focus on the great you are doing in the world and keep doing it. At the end of the day, the person whose judgement counts most of all is the person staring back in the mirror!

Do you have problems in your life right now?

If you are a living, breathing, human being, I would bet the answer is ‘yes’. This is because every single person on this planet has problems all the time. You are not alone!

However, do you allow your problems to stop you from achieving your goals or do you allow your problems to challenge you into becoming a stronger & wiser person? Do you allow your problems to cause you stress and unhappiness or do you allow your problems to ignite your fighting spirit?

If Only I Had No Problems
You Will Always Have Problems
We will always be problems in our life. Whenever you solve your problems, you can bet that another three more will pop up! The only time you will have no more problems is when you are lying in the graveyard… 6 feet under.

In fact, being more successful doesn’t rid you of your problems… it actually creates more! The more successful you become, the more and the bigger problems you will have to deal with. Successful people have a lot more problems that mediocre people. That is because the former tends to take more action.

We Need Problems…They Make Us Grow Smarter and Stronger

Many of us may not like problems. We all wish that everything can go the way we expect, smoothly.
However, the truth is that we NEED problems. Problems are what challenge our minds and spirit. Problems force us to think of new ideas. Problems force us to grow as a person- to develop courage, resolve, determination and gratitude. Problems teach us the most valuable lessons and make us into better people.

If everything came easily, we tend to get complacent, weak and ungrateful. We will keep doing the same things, staying in our comfort zone and stop learning and growing.

Successful People Are Bigger Than Their Problems, Mediocre People Are Smaller Than Their Problems
What I have realized is that successful people tend to be BIGGER than their problems whereas mediocre people tend to be SMALLER than their problems.

So, the key to becoming more and more successful is NOT to AVOID PROBLEMS. The key to success is to KEEP GROWING YOURSELF to become BIGGER than your problems, and to become bigger than any problem! 

It Is Not The Size Of Your Problems… It Is The Size Of Your Capabilities!

So, if you find that you have huge problems in your life, realize that it is not the size of the problem that is the problem…The real issue is the level of your own capabilities and mindset. It is the size of you! When you start to increase your skills, knowledge and capabilities, your problems will start to become small in comparison.
Whenever I find that a problem causes me stress, it tells me that I need to grow myself so that I can deal with it. In other words, ‘Don’t wish for things to get better, make yourself better!’

So, stop avoiding problems, Embrace your problems and solve them.

How Have You Lived Your Dash ?

I would just like to share a powerful song that I heard recently called ‘The Dash’. The ‘Dash’ was originally a poem written by Linda Ellis and it has been an inspiration to millions around the world, including myself. The song makes us realize that the day we complete our journey on earth, we will have two dates inscribed on our tombstone : the year of birth and the year of death. In the middle of both these dates is a short dash ‘-’. This dash represents all that we have done during our time that we are alive. It makes us reflect how we have lived our ‘dash’.

At the end of the day, we will soon realize that success is not about what we have (the cars, the houses and the cash we own)…but who we become as a person and how many people we have touched in the process. 

You may want to read the lyrics below. Enjoy and reflect!

There was a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.¨He read the dates on her tombstone from the beginning…to the end.

He noted first came the date of her birth and spoke the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

For that dash stands for all the time that she spent alive on earth…¨and only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.

It matters not, how much we own; the cars….the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard¦are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be re-arranged

If we would just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real and always try to understand the way that others feel. You'd be much less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.

So, when your eulogy’s being read and your life is being rehashed, would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?

the PURSUIT of HAPPYNESS

the PURSUIT of HAPPYNESS 

Will Smith : Man, I have two questions for you, "what do you do and how do you do it?"

You have a dream, you got to protect it. 

 You want something, go and get it. Period

It's a movie.....watch it !

If you cannot do great things, 

do small things great

……Napoleon Hill

Sometimes It Takes A Tragedy To Remind Us How Precious Life Is

On the 28 of Jan 2012, this man and his wife escaped a major tragedy by just a few seconds. At 2am+, they were traveling along Fort road, going home from a movie. Suddenly, their car just stalled on the road for no reason. Suddenly, in less than five seconds, two cars collided at high speed in front of them. One of the cars (a red taxi) flipped over as they watched in horror. The taxi landed less than 2 meters in front of their car. It was like a scene out of ‘Final Destination’.

As they stood at the side of the road in shock, they wondered, ‘if they had left the cinema a minute faster than they did or if their car did not stall, the taxi would have certainly crash landed on their car, and they may have been seriously injured or even killed. It’s times like this that you really start to think, ‘were they just lucky?’ or was it divine intervention? Why did their car stall at that precise moment?

This man wrote in his blog : "It’s looking back at these incidents that I believe that I have had a truly blessed life and I am so lucky to have the opportunity to continue living. Millions of people around the world have their life taken from them every single day. This is why I live everyday to the fullest and never allow myself to complain about anything. Life is short so we should not waste a second of it worrying, arguing or fighting over every little thing. This is why I have learnt to enjoy and appreciate every aspect of my life, even the tough challenges I go though."

"I also believe that everything happens for a purpose. We are all here for a purpose. The most important thing is to find out what your purpose on earth is. I am so lucky that I learnt a long time ago that we are not placed on this earth to exist day to day and play small with our life. We are placed on this earth to play big with our life in our own unique way of contribution. We are all meant to leave this earth a much better place than when we found it. I have been so lucky to find my purpose at such a young age-which is to inspire and empower others to be the best they can be."

"You will know what your purpose is when you find what you truly love to do. That is the clue that God gave to all of us. Find what you love to do and that is what God meant you to do. 

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” (Einstein said this)"