Serve, Learn & Lead with Raymond Tay

Is Internet Making Us Clever or Stupid?

Recently, I have come across a research on “The Future of the Internet” in 2020 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet. It was an online survey that consisted of 895 technology stakeholders’ and critics’ expectations of the evolving Internet in 10 years’ time.

Most of the respondents were hand-picked and invited through email, Twitter or Facebook. They were experts, representatives from institutions like Microsoft, Yahoo!, IBM, researchers and professors from many universities.

The survey discovered that 76% of the respondents felt that Internet will enhance human intelligence and people will become smarter and make better decisions as more information is accessible.

65% of the respondents agreed that Internet will improve our reading, writing and the rendering of knowledge and 80% will think that the hot gadgets and applications will often come “out of the blue” and surprise the many of today’s savviest innovators.

This research also compared with another article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr and he wrote about how massive information has changed people from reading and understanding a lengthy article in depth to skimming through numerous sources and browsing a couple of pages of an article.

Over-reliance of search engines and Internet for everything from doing a project to finding a date will make us stupid. The author indicated that Google is treating information as commodity and showing our human brain as an outdated computer that requires a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Only 21% of respondents agreed with Carr and replied that Internet might lower the IQs of people who used it frequently.

As I am a heavy user of Internet (so as many people I believe), it is interesting to know how it has been changing our lives especially our human intelligence. Are we becoming smarter, more stupid or lazier? I was born in the middle of Generation X & Y and thus I had experienced a couple of years without computer & Internet during my childhood.

In the past, I would visit library frequently to look for information but now information is at our fingertips. Internet is like a mega virtual library where anyone can access and contribute. With social networking, we can communicate in many different ways to anyone in the world.

My idea of Internet is only a medium or tool that we make use to find information. I believe it make us more knowledgeable in the fields that we consistently seek out (be it good or not; entertainment, gaming, education or personal development). I like this sentence that stated in the “The Future of the Internet” report, “If they are motivated to learn and shrewd, they will use new tools to explore in exciting new ways. If they are lazy or incapable of concentrating, they will find new ways to be distracted and goof off.” It is not about the technology but our personalities.

Do you still write a journal? Nowadays, I think it is outdated and instead people will ask, “Do you blog?” Blogging has become a phenomenal and according to Technorati, it is tracking more than 112 million blogs as of December 2007.

As a regular blogger myself, I have learnt to design, reflect, write, research, compile, format, interact with my visitors, add links and place ads. Most importantly, it gives me an opportunity to share my knowledge with people and document all my learning experience. I believe my reading and writing skills have improved greatly.

Our creativity and analytical skills have been enhanced too as we can see many amazing websites (e.g. facebook, youtube) are evolving to facilitate communication and information sharing.

Our intelligence level lies on our hands, not technology.

Leading People Through Dancing

I was amused when I saw this video presentation by Derek Sivers, a professional musician and founder of 4 companies (CD Baby, HostBaby, MuckWork & Now Now Now). I didn’t know that dancing can show a couple of valuable leadership lessons. This dancing guy is leading by example and being public. The first few steps are very important as you must be daring to take the lead (even doing ridiculous things – but you must believe it is worthwhile) and guide your first follower well on how to do it correctly & happily. Then more & more people will be coming to join you guys. Once momentum kicks off, it is very easy to continue and lead. Perseverance from the start is crucial.

Enjoy this cool leadership clip:

Positive Mind Positive Year

I’ve received an inspiring email from my friend and I would like to share with you. Here it goes:

When someone tells you that you can’t do something…

Don’t doubt yourself !!

Instead, stretch yourself !!

You gotta stick your neck out, go for your best !!

Use all your will power and positive attitude…

NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP !!

In the end, you’ll succeed and prove them wrong !!

Nothing is impossible so long as your heart is willing, and your attitude is positive !!

10 Tips for a Positive New Year

1. Take a morning walk of gratitude. It will create a fertile mind ready for success.
2. Transform adversity into success by deciding that change is not your enemy but your friend.
3. Make a difference to the lives of others.
4. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
5. Live with the 3 E’s: Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
6. Remember there’s no substitute for hard work.
7. Instead of complaining focus on solutions.
8. Read more books.
9. Smile and laugh more – they’re natural anti-depressants.
10. Enjoy the ride. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy it !!

Money = Happiness?

Today, I came across an article that surprised me and it was about an Austrian Millionaire, Karl Rabeder, who wants to sell away all his assets so that he can feel free & happy again.

Or click here to read more about him.

Before you read further, let me say something first. My following comments are not meant to intimidate or make him look bad. The purpose is to let us re-examine our own drivers of happiness and the meaning of wealth.

The article has led me to ask these questions: “Is money equal to happiness?” or “Getting  rich makes you happy?“ From my understanding, he seems like he is not very happy of what he is doing (e.g. doing biz – selling interior furnishings and accessories, acquiring more wealth).

He might have these beliefs: “Working is just work, nothing more.”, ”Money represents unhappiness” and “Owning luxury items can’t let you do what you love.”

Through my years of reading & learning from successful people, successful people don’t treat work as work but they are doing what they love, challenge themselves and look for opportunities to grow. Some says “WORK IS PLAY!!“. Doing biz itself also provides ample opportunities to fulfill our human needs (e.g. variety/surprises, growth, contribution). Like interacting with people, developing your creative self, learn new skills.

Can humans do nothing? No. A “Boredom” research proved something. Researchers from University College London went to study about 7,000 civil servants aged between 35 and 55 in the mid ’80s and then checked whether they had died by April 2009. They found that people who complain “high levels” of boredom in their lives were nearly 40% more likely to have died than those who did not. Reason might be turning to unhealthy habits.

Thus only through working, it makes us alive!!

Do you love money? If you say “No.”, you are merely surviving or broke. Actually, if you have been reading my previous wealth posts, you will find out more about wealth thinking. I agree to some extents that money will not bring happiness. They are just paper but they give you the right to buy more things that can led to happiness (e.g. giving roses to your lover, buying birthday cake, going for a holiday with your family). Without money, you can’t enjoy the lifestyle that you want and have to struggle day-to-day. Even helping people needs money esp. the poors.  

Of course, different people have different wealth standards (like Warren Buffett and Donald Trump will not settle being just a millionaire). Therefore, it’s important for each of us to find the right level of wealth that let us feel good and live well. Maybe Karl Rabeder wants to lower his wealth in order to match his ideal lifestyle. However, wealth can also described as a state of mind, not what you own.

Hope my sharing has led you to some real thinking about yourself and your own wealth. =)

Starting Your Biz Website

Nowadays, if you want to start a business, I think one of the very first steps is to create a website and look for a web hosting. Why do you need a website? The primary aim is to build awareness about your products/services. Other objectives include creating a sales channel like direct selling (e.g. Dell, Amazon, eBay), updating customers on your latest products or events and even generating discussions in the website.

Having no clue about designing a website?

There is no need to learn about sophisticated designing tools as many website templates are easily available for downloading. Of course, more professional & attractive website templates come with a price. Thus you can just search for an appropriate template that matches your business. For my biz website, I’m doing it too and make my own adjustments like adding pictures, adding links and changing the texts. Fortunately, I’ve learnt about basic html in school and therefore I’m able to do that easily. 

Finding a web hosting?

Next, once you are done with your biz website, you need a “place” to continuously show (host) your website unless you own a server and let it turn on for 24hrs, 7 days a week. There are endless webhosting sites that you can find and this might confuse some people. You don’t know which one to choose? How I choose the web host? First, I need to ensure the webhost is safe and reliable. Look for their awards (e.g. Editor’s Choice Award, Hosting Code Of Ethics Verified) and testimonials that they received. Secondly, I will naturally compare the packages in terms of price, domain name, number of e-mail addresses, disk space, bandwidth, etc. You can check their ranking too such as a web hosting directory. Can also consider drupal web hosting. You need to know what is important for your biz website. Sometimes it is not necessary to purchase the most expensive package with all the unlimited features for your simple biz website. Lowering the bottomline is as important as increasing the topline for your business.

Need to have a blog too?

I will recommend you to have a blog too if you have the time and resources or information to share constantly. So far I think wordpress is a good blog platform to use as it’s user-friendly and most of all, free for anyone (with regular updates too). You can also look into wordpress web hosting. There are also many blog shops around, which is using a blog to promote & sell your products.

An Interview by Penny’s Daybook

One of our friends, Adine Chin, a freelance writer/copywriter & a creative writing teacher has contacted us for an interview about Leader’s Wheel and ourselves to feature in her “Inspiring Entrepreneurs” story in their Penny’s Daybook. We are happy to complete her interview and hopefully inspire people who needs some encouragement to take the first step in starting a biz. Below is the interview (answered by Raymond & Keith):

1. In 3 words, tell us what Leader’s Wheel is all about.

Moulding Tomorrow’s Leaders.

2. Which clear, or perhaps, unexpected path in life led you to what you’re doing now?

It was a long journey that led us to discover what we love to do. During our secondary school’s days and continued volunteering service in St. John Ambulance Brigade (SJAB), we had been trained to be a leader and empowered to develop our juniors into leaders as well. Through this CCA, we had many opportunities to attend many leadership courses and after that, we were given the chance to take upon various key roles (like Platoon Commander, Training Officer, Support Officer, Cadet Officer, Finance Officer) to serve, learn and lead. You can say that SJAB shaped our character and destiny.

3. To train leaders, you’ve got to be one too. So tell us how things were when you guys were trying to build this idea from scratch and how you managed to pull through.

Certainly, you must be a leader first before train others to be. A common phrase is “Lead by Example.” Once we are very clear what we are going to do, everything will seem possible. As we have created leadership programmes before, it was not too difficult to continue to use the useful contents to teach young leaders-to-be. Of course, there are many unknowns when starting a business (e.g. knowing how to register a biz, designing website, and contacting the schools). But when you love what you do and focus on your end intention (which is helping & changing young souls), you will continue to take small steps and overcome all obstacles to reach your goals.

4. Before building Leader’s Wheel, how different/similar were your personal goals as compared to now?

I think for majority of us, when we are young, we dream of many different careers (like doctor, lawyer, policeman, prison officer, businessman) as we are not too certain of what we want to do. Thus indeed it was very different for me compared to now. Fortunately, I would say I am lucky to find my passion early in life so I will not be hitting too many walls along.

5. Tell us, what’s the ONE thing (besides leadership, of course) that will cause an individual to stand out from the crowd?

I think it is our “FOCUS” in life or “CLARITY” of our destiny. As many people are not very sure what they want to do, so they will just follow the crowd or listen to their parents, teachers, professors or schools. Thus, it is vital for an individual to be certain of what he/she wants to achieve in life and work towards their goals accordingly.

6. How would you encourage/inspire individuals who want to pursue their ambitions of owning a business, or just pursing unconventional interests?

You can say “easy and/or difficult”. It is easy to inspire people who are clear of their personal direction and difficult to help someone to discover their interests (as it is a personal thing). One thing we would highlight is that not all of us need to be entrepreneur, as you need certain personalities to be one and the world cannot operate if all of us become a business owner (as there is no employees to hire). There is a wonderful mandarin quote: “Every occupation will create its scholars and talents”.


7. How do each of you overcome challenges and prove naysayers wrong?

Perseverance is the key to success. If you do not believe in yourself and what you are doing and chose to give up at the earliest opportunity when facing any problems, you will never succeed in life. Thus, instead of running away from problems, we chose to face our challenges bravely and adjust our strategies accordingly to overcome the challenges faced.

8. What’re the best and worst things about doing what you’re doing now?

The best thing is that we are able to do the things we like and have a passion for as our career. Many a times, people are grumbling about their jobs (e.g. mundane work, unfriendly colleagues) and just work for the sake of money. But for us, we are glad that we have an opportunity to do what we like and have a sustainable income at the same time. The worst thing will be not being accepted by the schools. We treat rejections as reality of life and if we ask enough people, someone will say, “Yes!”.

9. What inspires you?

Personally, I am a person who thrives under adversity. Thus for me, my inspiration comes from sportsmen who have come back successfully after overcoming their personal challenges accordingly because these people have many qualities which I can learn and tap from. One such example is Lance Armstrong who did not quit competing in cycling races even though he was diagnosed with his testicular cancer.

10. What’s one thing we really, really must know about the team at Leader’s Wheel?

In Leader’s Wheel, we are forward looking. We are constantly seeking improvements in all aspects of our company and lives. We look for various avenues to enrich and better equipped ourselves so that we are able to face any challenges ahead.

11. What’s one experience that has touched you the most in your line of work since Leader’s Wheel?

The experience that has touched me the most must be the industry visit I had arranged with one of our partners. They are a non-profit organization which provides job placement service for people with disabilities (PWD). By reaching out to the PWD and assisting them in achieving independence, dignity and integration into the mainstream of society, this experience of working closely with the PWD have truly touched me. I am more determined to bring the awareness of this organisation to the students we are teaching.

12. What are you looking forward to in 2010 (personally and also for Leader’s Wheel)?

Personally, I am looking at being able to share my knowledge with more people; students in particular, as I had always believe that the students can achieve higher well-being with valuable advices and knowledge. As for Leader’s Wheel, we aim to reach out to more schools and enriched the lives of 10,000 students by the end of 2010. (Currently, we have moulded 2,116 and still counting…)

13. As promised, our theme for Feburary’s “Red Hot” and we want you to complete our tiny fill in the blanks section!

My idea image of something “Red Hot” (‘chilli/curry aren’t allowed) is the fire in each of us.

If I weren’t managing Leader’s Wheel, I’d be an educator and be volunteering to develop youth.

If I had to make my way through the crazy Lunar New Year traffic, I’d rather listen to my favourite music and my role models’ speeches to cool down.

I’d like to exercise right now with my buddy.

Exercising and living keep me refreshed.

Our Recent Assembly Talks @ East View Primary School on Goal Setting:

Being Grateful in Mandarin

It’s not my usual practice to put in other languages for my post, but I think it is a good reminder for Chinese people to learn to be grateful. Personally, I enjoy this short scripts:

钱多钱少，够吃就好。
人丑人美，顺眼就好。
人老人少，健康就好。
家穷家富，和气就好。
老公晚归，有回就好。
老婆唠叨，顾家就好。
孩子从小，就要教好。
博士也好，卖菜也好。
房屋大小，能住就好。
名不名牌，能穿就好。
两轮四轮，能驾就好。
老板不好，要忍就好。
一切烦恼，能解就好。
切莫执着，放下最好。
人的一生，平安就好。
不是有钱，一定会好。
心好行好，命能改好。
谁是谁非，天知就好。
修福修慧，来世更好。
天地万物，随缘就好。
很多事情，看开就好。
说这么多，明白就好。
人人都好，日日都好。
你好我好，世界更好。
总而言之，知足最好。

Focus on Small & Consistent Gains!!

Is stock investment risky?

Yes, indeed when we did not have the necessary knowledge and discipline. I’ve started stock & options trading since 2007 and have experienced good profits and bad lossess too. After reviewing my trading performance, I need to improve and learn to apply the right investment strategy/ plan. Thus I went to seek for more knowledge and find out an Millionaire Trader, Mirriam MacWilliams.

Mirriam made over US$2 million in less than 2 years in the options trading with a starting capital of just US$10,000. She is the former National Director of Education of the largest non-profit investment club in USA.

After listening to her tips & advice, I’ve discovered my own mistakes and she really opened up my mind the possibilities & new concepts (esp. Focus on Small & Consistent Gains). I’ve not been in control of my greed & fear towards trading. An automated stop loss & target price need to implement to make us an objective investor. If you can make at least 7 out of 10 trades profitable, your strategy is good.

Also, I never knew that the top 10 rated companies (by the StockScouter in Money Central, MSN) actually outperformed S&P 500 index by 22% since 2001. I’ll make use of it from now on.

Make an informed decision!!

Invest in your education first:

Getting Inspiration to Keep Moving

I always have a strong interest to read/listen/watch any valuable materials that give inspiration & ideas to make my life better. If you share this common interest with me, I welcome you to visit my blog regularly. Today, when I did a search on “wealth“, this man appears again and certainly, he’ll consistently be the one being top of the list. Hopefully, you can guess correctly. None other than Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft. If you think you are introvert and don’t believe that you can make a difference, he’s the Richest Introvert Man in the World. I enjoy listening to him and see how he uses his passion & determination to grow Microsoft. Personally, I think it’s not just about setting a software company at the right time but you love what you are doing and continuously seek improvements. That’s really the key of success. One more thing: ”He empowers people and train up leaders!!” A wealth quote that I can relate to him is “If you want to help the poor, don’t be like them.“ Can a poor person help a poor person? Of course can, but it will be very tough. You need to help yourself first, get wealthy and then you can be help more people. Watch the video and keep moving:

Michael Dell is in the video too. =)

Time to Set Compelling Goals for 2010

Every year without fail, I’ll find time to sit down and write down my goals for the new year. With computer/laptop nowadays, I can easily search and select several empowering pictures for my Vision Wallpaper (instead of a real board) and I think it’s good enough (esp. I need to face my laptop daily). My vision wallpaper will act as a reminder for me to focus and continue to stay motivated & hopeful to reach my goals.

You can follow me or choose the most practical way for yourself. As usual, I have set goals for all aspects of my life (e.g. relationship, financial, business, health and other personal development goals). I encourage you to do so too and not to neglect any areas of your life as we’ll not feel fulfilled if there’s still an area that you are not happy about. My favourite words are “To Be A Complete Human!!”

I believe most of you already know the importance & benefits of goal setting (if you don’t, can drop me some comments) and thus I’ll not elucidate over here.

Have you heard of the 1953 Yale Goal Study? I have read this study in a couple of books and curious whether it really exists. To my surprise, after spending some time in researching, I saw my articles stating that it’s actually a fiction or myth and there are even like-minded people went to ask Tony Robbins/Zig Ziglar/ Yale University about the evidence of this study. It seems like no one can provide the facts or reports. Quite disappointed but still enjoyed the story.

Interestingly, there was a “Written Goal Study“ by Gail Matthews, from Dominican University. This study consisted of 267 participants from  United States, Belgium, England, India, Australia and Japan and they were made up of entrepreneurs, educators, healthcare professionals, artists, attorneys, bankers, marketers, human services providers, managers, vice presidents, directors of non-profits, etc.

The participants were randomly assigned into these 5 groups:

• Group 1- Unwritten Goal (thinking about what they wanted to accomplish over the next 4 weeks)
• Group 2- Written Goal
• Group 3- Written Goal & Action Commitments
• Group 4- Written Goal, Action Commitments to a Friend
• Group 5- Written Goal, Action Commitments & Progress Reports to a Friend

The results of this study concluded that:

1. The positive effect of accountability was supported: those who sent weekly progress reports to their friend accomplished significantly more than those who had unwritten goals, wrote their goals, formulated action commitments or sent those action commitments to a friend.
2. There was support for the role of public commitment: those who sent their commitments to a friend accomplished significantly more than those who wrote action commitments or did not write their goals.
3. The positive effect of written goals was supported: Those who wrote their goals accomplished significantly more than those who did not write their goals.

Now there’s this substantial research to support the impact of written goals. As expected, we have been told and understand the Power of Goals. So why wait if you haven’t start to write down your goals? It’s free anyway and nothing to lose. =)

Also, Performance is maximized even when the goal is not achieved!

Take ACTION now!!

“Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success.“ – David Joseph Schwartz

“You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals.” – Booker T. Washington