PersonalGrowth & SelfEsteem

Yesterday, I watched another episode on “Search for the next pussy cat doll”. Two of the contestants were chosen to lead a team each.
You can watch the expression on the faces of the two of them… fear, horror, discomfort, disbelief on being chosen to be a leader.
They were intentionally chosen to lead because they have great potential in other skills but lack leadership skills. The only way for them to learn or overcome their limiting belief is to face it and step up.
At the end of the show, both contestants are still in the race and were happy that they were chosen to lead.
What a difference they have made, when compared to the beginning of the show.

Now, back to you…are there situations that is holding you back?
Or you feel the fear or the lack of confidence?
If the pussycat doll contestants can do it, I am sure you can too.
Time for you to step up.

Here are more power phrases to help you…

- Learn to feel comfortable by being uncomfortable.
- Rich people act in spite of fear;poor people let fear stop them ( T Harv Eker).
-”Impossible” is actually I m possible.
-Feel the fear and just do it ( Helen Keller)
-You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.

And here is an exercise to help you get started…
Think of a situation in the past in which you feel very confident or certain.
With the feeling good, then take action now on something that is holding you back.

Or watch another video from the pussycat dolls to help you anchor ‘to do it now!’.
The song is ‘ wait a minute’. Do change it to ‘DON’T wait a minute…just do it”.

Hoo,hoo,hoo….christmas is coming.
I am sure you will be busy thinking about gifts to buy for this coming festive season.
Want some ideas on what gifts to prepare?
Watch tv on the info commercial “as seen on tv”.
Great ideas and great gifts abound there.
Now here is a bonus idea…want to get the same item as above but at a lesser price?
Click here

Yesterday, while watching TV, I saw a newsflash which showed 17 dragon boat rowers injured,5 drowned and feared dead. They were taking part in an annual dragon boat event in Cambodia in which more than 1 million people are expected to attend the 3-day event to celebrate Cambodia’s Water Festival.
It happened as they had finished the race and is about to dock to the side of the river to disembarked.

What is the first question that comes to your mind?
To me, it is obvious…why no life-jackets?

And this morning, the picture got clearer.
-The race is held to honour the ancient naval warriors of the country and to reflect the tradition, no jackets were worned.
- As they are about to dock, a sudden wave hit their boat and it hit into a pontoon, sucking all the rowers undeneath 9 metres of water.
-Fatigue and strong currents had an effect on them.

The life lessons here serve to remind me to never jump to conclusions.
How often do we jump to conclusions in life?
-like when our children do not do well in exams.
-or when we have an argument with our partner or spouse?
-or when our boss is not seeing our good work done.

It saddens me even deeper, knowing that the rowers are from my country, Singapore.
The five still missing are Stephen Loh, a national rower, Jeremy Goh,former vice captain of Nanyang Polytechnic dragon boat team, Poh Boon San, an engineer from Nanyang Tech University, Reuben Kee, Mr Singapore 2006 and Chee Wei Cheng, older of two sons.

200 people are involved in the search although the situation looks grim.
It is truly unfortunate that they chose to row back on their own instead of waiting to be towed back to the starting line after finishing the race.

Next time you jump to conclusions, take a deep breath and recall this unforgettable incident to remind you that it may not be what you are thinking.

P/s: Some 40 hours after the tragedy, all 5 bodies were recovered from the river. My deepest condolences to the families of the 5 rowers.

Once in awhile we want to pamper ourselves.Often we forget to love ourselves first before loving others.For men,one of the favorite pastimes is to watch a good movie at home.Isn’t it wonderful and cozy to own an awesome home theater system, with the realistic sounds and very sharp images.
Now how about your home theater furniture?
Isn’t it time to upgrade so that your movie watching or music listening becomes a complete experience?

Gold price is rising.Platinum price is rising too. Festive season is around the corner and you have a hard time figuring what to give as a gift for your loved ones?
How about pearls?
10 years ago, I bought a pearl necklace in Japan for my wife.I do not know how to select pearls so to play safe, I chose one that is not cheap.
Today, while surfing online,I managed to look at a site on pearls and there are valuable advice on how to select pearls.
Fortunately, the pictures shown in the site revealed that I did not make a wrong choice.
All I can say is that the lustre remains as original as the time I bought it.

Many many years ago, life insurance plans would have the investment and the protection mechanism packaged as one.Most people readily accept such plans at that time as it appears favorable.
Nowadays,you have a wider choice. Customers are more well-informed, more educated and with the availability of online like a term life insurance quote, insurers are kept on their toes to deliver innovative products.
Should you have two different instruments now? That is life insurance is purely term life and the investment part as unit trust plan.
My personal opinion is yes but the choice is yours.
If you are still confused, then have 3 plans..a whole life, a term life and a pure investment plan. Review them every 5 years to make adjustments.

I was just watching “deal or no deal”.For this episode,a popular hairdresser was the participant and the particular session is for charity.
Fortunately, he won $101,000 for the charity organization. Hoo-ray!
What if you need some extra cash and you are not playing ‘deal or  no deal?
Well, you can try to max your credit card or borrow from your friends.
Or you can try payday loan or cash advance online.

Borrow if you need to, spend if you need to..as long as you know your money management.

If you have an online business and is considering selling physical products online, sooner or later the topic of having a shopping cart will surface.
It can be quite a challenge to select the appropriate provider.
Some criteria for consideration are:
History or track record of the provider?
How many features are available?
How secure is it to handle money transaction?
Does it have affiliate program or modules?
Is it easy to navigate?
Is it easy to install?
How about support from the supplier?
Any hidden fees?
Any trial period so that you can familiarise yourself?
Most important being is the pricing affordable, assuming it matches all your requirements?

How about free vs hosted shopping cart provider? Do weigh carefully and in general, even with other services, a paid or hosted service provider is always better in the long term.
Ashop Commerce is a leading provider of hosted shopping cart software. It offers a complete solution for merchants to sell online.

Option trading is gaining popularity in Singapore.Practically every week, you can see advertisement in the local papers.
One advertisement you do not see that often is that from Michael Woo, a good friend of mine. Just by word of mouth, his classes are easily filled-up.
Once in awhile, we find a gem in whatever we do.It can be a shirt or dress that you are shopping for, or a great vacation at fantastic prices.
In option trading, Michael’s class is like the gem that you are waiting all these years. Stretching over 5 months, once a week, hands-on class at a price that is unbelievable.
You want more? You only pay monthly and not upfront total fees!
Michael is conducting a preview on 24th and 25th Nov at  2.30 to 4.30 pm at his  Apollo Centre class.
If you are in Singapore and would like to attend the preview, drop your comment here.

Want to know more about him?
Read on…

Michael Woo is a qualified accountant with 40 years of financial experience behind him. He first started his career in the workforce as a Regional Controller for an MNC, SeaLand Service Inc (now known as Maersk-SeaLand), the largest container shipping company in the world and was based in Hong Kong for 18 years until 1989. Back in Singapore Michael joined the SembCorp Group, a TLC company, and was responsible for developing new businesses for the group. Whilst in the workforce he had always known the wise thing to do was to find an alternative source of income. He found his niche in the equity markets. Subsequently in 1999 he quit the workforce to go into full time trading.

Michael acquired his trading skills by attending various seminars and workshops in the US on investing and trading but most importantly he spent countless hours on research into what makes a successful trader. He obtained most of his inspiration from people like William O’Neil, Richard Dennis, Ed Seykota, Linda Raschke, Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, Dr Van Tharp, to name just a few.

An opportunity then came along where a large US investor education company, called Investools, was looking for someone in Asia to teach their methods. Investools then set up an office in Singapore and Michael became the first instructor in Asia to teach people the art of investing in the stock markets. Subsequently he was also engaged as an investment instructor for three other US Institutions, namely Business Week, CNBC and Teach-Me-To-Trade. Other than conducting investment seminars in Singapore he also taught in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The demand for investor education was growing fast, so much so that many local companies were set up and jumped onto the bandwagon. In 2004 Michael decided to establish his own school and formed Trading For A Living Pte Ltd. Since then all of his courses have been very well attended and today he conducts four sessions each week, each session lasting two hours. So far he has trained more than 5,000 students on how to be better and successful traders. Many consider Michael’s courses to be the most comprehensive and the best value for money spent. Today he is considered one of the best trainers in this business.

The problem most traders face when they get started or even after they have been trading for some time is that:

1. They don’t know how to enter the market.

2. They don’t know the right time to get out of the market.

3. They don’t know where to place their stops.

   Many traders try to forecast what the market will do in the future but have never quite got the hang of it. Newspapers do not print tomorrow’s market movements. We do not get next week’s market data on any websites nor are there any reports that will tell us what is going to happen before they happen.

Surely we are not fool enough to think we have the answers or the magic formulas to wealth. Michael has been trading for more than twenty years and has met many investors with many different approaches to making money – stocks, options, futures, currency hedges, trend following, IPOs, insider information, technical systems, charts or even looking at the stars. None of them work all the time, but all of them work some of the time. The big problem is that many people are wired to make dumb investing mistakes and the bigger problem is that we are wired not to learn from them but to make them over and over again. Why? Because we refused to see them as mistakes. Einstein called this insanity.

Michael’s unique strategies are what set him apart from all the rest. He specializes in identifying optimal entries and exits relying mainly on candlestick charting techniques. Best of all is that all these strategies are applicable for all markets for all instruments in all time frames.

Michael will never claim to teach you how to make a $1 million from a starting position of $5,000. Dr Van Tharp says many people play the lottery because the reward is so huge compared with the risk. Trying to make a $1 million from $5,000 is similar to playing the lottery.

Michael believes that in order to succeed you must first believe you can. Discipline is the key.

“I don’t just teach others how to trade. I practice exactly what I teach or to put it another way, I teach exactly what I practice”.

One of the most important aspect of our life is about money.
Did you know that by age 65, the majority of people are actually broke rather than being financially independent?
What can you do so that you can be financially independent when you are old?
The secret?…financial knowledge and financial action. First is the knowledge.
Learn as much as possible about financial literacy,which unfortunately is not taught in schools.

For example,when do you use your personal account or checking accounts for money management?
Or do you know how to make a budget and stick to it or do you know how to re-built your credit or save for your child’s education?
After you have some knowledge, the next step is action. Applying what you know into life and most importantly, teach your children too on financial literacy.Many people know what to do but few people do what they know.
Good luck.