Every day, each of us is caught in the whirlpool of waiting and rushing...
If you had to travel by air for business, you will fully understand this phenomenon. leaving the home or office at the every last moment to rush to the airport. And of course, you have to arrive in good time or you will be shut out of the flight.
Arriving in the airport only to wait to board (that is why lounges are so packed).
In the aircraft, waiting for take-off.
In the aircraft, waiting for doors to open to disembarked...
Rushed to immigration only to wait for clearance...
Rushed through to wait for baggage.
Rushed to car pick-up and wait in traffic
Need I say more.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Sobering thought : Time-Energy-Money
You need all 3 to get a life! So you think.
When one is young - you have energy and time, but no money. So you give excuses not to do whatever you want to do.
When one is older and working - you have money (hopefully) and still have energy, but alas, no time. So you put off what you want to do... till retirement as one would say.
When one is retired - sure enough you have money and time, but have you the energy now? You may not be up doing that thing anymore.
The moral is that you just have to go out and do that something, whatever it is, whenever you can. Seize the moment, and do it. If you have no money, go on a shoe-string budget; if you have no time, go for a short one; if you have no energy, then that is a bit tough...though you should still do what you can.
I have skiied and fallen, played canoe polo and lost a tooth, driven around New York state and bumped into a tree (or is it a curb or railing), earned a few degrees and other professional qualifications, kept a great career going strong ... now getting married...(Yippee), and soon will be working in another country.
* Have saved some money (though not enough),
* Can squeeze some time (still insufficient), and
* Could do with more energy (no longer spring chicken)
=> enough, enough to do what I want - Now and not later!
When one is young - you have energy and time, but no money. So you give excuses not to do whatever you want to do.
When one is older and working - you have money (hopefully) and still have energy, but alas, no time. So you put off what you want to do... till retirement as one would say.
When one is retired - sure enough you have money and time, but have you the energy now? You may not be up doing that thing anymore.
The moral is that you just have to go out and do that something, whatever it is, whenever you can. Seize the moment, and do it. If you have no money, go on a shoe-string budget; if you have no time, go for a short one; if you have no energy, then that is a bit tough...though you should still do what you can.
I have skiied and fallen, played canoe polo and lost a tooth, driven around New York state and bumped into a tree (or is it a curb or railing), earned a few degrees and other professional qualifications, kept a great career going strong ... now getting married...(Yippee), and soon will be working in another country.
* Have saved some money (though not enough),
* Can squeeze some time (still insufficient), and
* Could do with more energy (no longer spring chicken)
=> enough, enough to do what I want - Now and not later!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Scary Thoughts
Credit - what does it mean to different people?
In the light of current credit situation (referring to the sub-prime loans in the US, affecting other loans, debt securities, CDS, CDO, CMOs, and what have you), credit is now a real pain.
When the full impact is known, one will only gasp at the extend this has permeated through our daily lives. just like pollution and global warming? Now this butterfly is fluttering in the US and creating the stir everywhere else... is my frail grandmother's saving affected by this? Directly no, but indirectly, yeah sure!
So is there a place to hide? Not really. Is the Bull run over? Perhaps.
This is my take on tihs situation: The Bull Run is but a show and the final curtain is coming down onto the stage. It would be a while before the true impact of this is known for sure, just as it would take a while for this curtain to finally close off the stage. Players are acting, reacting and perhaps racing to do something, much like the eager audience who are clapping their hands, cat calling for encore...
This is the final curtain! It is coming down. Whether it would go up again for an encore is anyone's guess. If it does, great! If not, we should just marvel at how great the show was when it lasted, and lament at what a surprising conclusion it was at the end.
In the light of current credit situation (referring to the sub-prime loans in the US, affecting other loans, debt securities, CDS, CDO, CMOs, and what have you), credit is now a real pain.
When the full impact is known, one will only gasp at the extend this has permeated through our daily lives. just like pollution and global warming? Now this butterfly is fluttering in the US and creating the stir everywhere else... is my frail grandmother's saving affected by this? Directly no, but indirectly, yeah sure!
So is there a place to hide? Not really. Is the Bull run over? Perhaps.
This is my take on tihs situation: The Bull Run is but a show and the final curtain is coming down onto the stage. It would be a while before the true impact of this is known for sure, just as it would take a while for this curtain to finally close off the stage. Players are acting, reacting and perhaps racing to do something, much like the eager audience who are clapping their hands, cat calling for encore...
This is the final curtain! It is coming down. Whether it would go up again for an encore is anyone's guess. If it does, great! If not, we should just marvel at how great the show was when it lasted, and lament at what a surprising conclusion it was at the end.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Sleepy thoughts
What is gained from meetings?
Have you ever had to attend meetings? What a silly question indeed, of course one typcially ends up in meetings. In fact, many corporate executives end up attending meetings, after meetings, after meetings... At the end of the day, one is so exhausted by these meetings. As if attending meetings isn't enough, one finds oneself initiating meetings, running meetings and chairing meetings too. Many many hours are spent meeting one another, each other and everybody else.
Does anyone get their work done through these meetings? Honestly, yes! Oh but of course meetings get things done! What a silly question again. One only needs to look at the ring-binder fill with all the minutes to those meetings. Those minutes documented things done, decisions made and directions set. So it is unequivocal to say that meetings get things done, according to those minutes anyway.
oh wait, have we also forgotten how meetings have also evolved to many other forms recently? Now we can have net-meetings, phone conference, video calls, seminars, workshop, offsites, symposiums, etc. Woah... need I say more. yes, i need to. Has anyone come out of a meeting and then end up having to huddle into a small group to complain about the meeting and then attempt to discuss on the issues again? you are not alone; and many a time, such sessions actuallly resolve the issues better than the meetings themselves. yet, such huddles are never documented, just work done and move on.
Is there a moral to this long verbal vomit? if you haven't already concluded, then here it is...
"Meetings - when hours are lost, but minutes are kept!"
let's keep our discussion to that phone call, e-mail, coffee break... get the work done! spend that precious minutes to save that unproductive hours.
Have you ever had to attend meetings? What a silly question indeed, of course one typcially ends up in meetings. In fact, many corporate executives end up attending meetings, after meetings, after meetings... At the end of the day, one is so exhausted by these meetings. As if attending meetings isn't enough, one finds oneself initiating meetings, running meetings and chairing meetings too. Many many hours are spent meeting one another, each other and everybody else.
Does anyone get their work done through these meetings? Honestly, yes! Oh but of course meetings get things done! What a silly question again. One only needs to look at the ring-binder fill with all the minutes to those meetings. Those minutes documented things done, decisions made and directions set. So it is unequivocal to say that meetings get things done, according to those minutes anyway.
oh wait, have we also forgotten how meetings have also evolved to many other forms recently? Now we can have net-meetings, phone conference, video calls, seminars, workshop, offsites, symposiums, etc. Woah... need I say more. yes, i need to. Has anyone come out of a meeting and then end up having to huddle into a small group to complain about the meeting and then attempt to discuss on the issues again? you are not alone; and many a time, such sessions actuallly resolve the issues better than the meetings themselves. yet, such huddles are never documented, just work done and move on.
Is there a moral to this long verbal vomit? if you haven't already concluded, then here it is...
"Meetings - when hours are lost, but minutes are kept!"
let's keep our discussion to that phone call, e-mail, coffee break... get the work done! spend that precious minutes to save that unproductive hours.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Random Thoughts
The Problems with Averaging:
Have you heard of people who said : "on average you are fine". this usually means that specific experience is NOT fine, hence the use of Averages.
Example, Our sales this month is only 60% of target, but on average for the year, we are still fine... since last month our sales was 100% better than target...
I was prompted with a cartoon I once saw ... a picture of a man, obviously drunk. He leans on a lamppost with a bottle of half drunk wine in hand. the lampposts shines brightly on this man... and the caption that reads : he uses statistics like this man uses a lamppost, for support rather than illumination. I can't recall the original artist or the publication, so I would attribute this to the original artist and publication (whoever he/she is, whatever it is)...
If your head is in the oven and your feet are in the freezer...then you are fine on average (or are you?)
Have you heard of people who said : "on average you are fine". this usually means that specific experience is NOT fine, hence the use of Averages.
Example, Our sales this month is only 60% of target, but on average for the year, we are still fine... since last month our sales was 100% better than target...
I was prompted with a cartoon I once saw ... a picture of a man, obviously drunk. He leans on a lamppost with a bottle of half drunk wine in hand. the lampposts shines brightly on this man... and the caption that reads : he uses statistics like this man uses a lamppost, for support rather than illumination. I can't recall the original artist or the publication, so I would attribute this to the original artist and publication (whoever he/she is, whatever it is)...
If your head is in the oven and your feet are in the freezer...then you are fine on average (or are you?)
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