Success Principles

There are people who say that life is uncertain, but I tend to feel that life is so predictable, i.e. very certain.

The journey we pass through in our lives go through the stages of birth, aging, illnesses and death. None of us can avoid these stages in our lives and therefore my stand that life is very predictable.

As I look back, all of us pass through the same stages of life's 4 stages.

We were all borne as a result of the conjugation between a man and a woman, who are known as our parents - father and mother. They will feed us, cloth us and school us until we can fend for ourselves. At this stage we build relationships with true friends and personally, I found that friendships built during this stage to be most sincere and unconditional. I still have lunch and get-together with some of my classmates or school mates, primary as well as secondary.

Then, after completing our education at whatever levels each of us would have attained, we start to seek careers. We may start with one and then move on to another, until we find what we truly love to do. Some of us who are luckier may land up with career that we truly love but there are many who may not be so "lucky." Notice that I have parenthesis between the word lucky. My personal experience has been that when we are bold enough to change career when we feel that we have embarked on one that we don't truly love, we will eventually find the one we love. However, most people are just too careful and unwilling to take risks to experience something else once they start and achieve some degree of success with what they have.Some of us achieve success at an early age while some at an older age. At whatever age we achieve our desired levels of success, what is important is that we must enjoy the journey and do the things that we love.

Then, we may start to find that we have an urge to do something beyond just doing things for ourselves. I found this itch at the age of 26 and became a member of the Lions Club of Bayan Lepas, in Penang. I never looked back and as of today, I have been an active member of this service organization for more than 30 years. I have found both, joy as well as frustration during this journey, but, all in all, I have also found that every aspect of this journey have made me a better and more confident person.

The better aspects motivated me to carry on while the less desired aspects enlightened me that after all, we people are just ordinary human that are capable of good or bad, positive or negative and pleasant or down right disgusting. Whatever may come, how we react to them would determine our happiness in serving the cause that we have set out to serve. Thus, I have found this stage of my life, where I built a meaningful career that have been reasonably rewarding financially and personally while still being able to serve the causes that I love to. I found balance and harmony in my life. As Albert Schwitzer said, "those among us who would be truly happy are those who would have sought and found how to serve." I believe I have found both.

One of life later stage is aging. As we age, we would experience both, physical, emotional and spiritual challenges. Personally, I found that what I did before I reached this stage was indeed a great help. For example, I decided that when it was time for me to slow down, I would love to share my life experiences with the younger generation of people that come after us. Thus, I reflected on my activities in our community, work place, social experiences, etc to explore and attempted to uncover what would be useful to share with the people that I would love to share with. I also went back to school to do my Master in Business Administration so that I can be better equipped to serve the people I wanted to serve, by sharing my experiences - the good, the bad and the ugly.

Now, although I still have to bear with some of the occasional joint and muscle pains, I found that my involvement in facilitating learning and self-examination rewarding and helped me to forget these pains. I have also gone back to re-learn and fine-tune my public speaking, communication and leadership skills. I recognized that learning is a life long journey and if we desire to share our lives with others, we must also ensure that what we share are useful and purpose to them.

Well, my life still goes on at an active level and I seem to find that I am even more busy that when I was under full time employment! However, I am not complaining. on the contrary, I am enjoying it.

See you at my 85th birthday!

cheers!

One of the most life transforming endeavour is to educate the people of a nation. This, I am sure, has the support of every right thinking people.

In this respect, I am most proud of my good friend, Andrew Chua, from Singapore who has kindly volunteered to make available 300 scholarships for deserving students to study for degrees with the University of Wales Institute Cardiff or Queen Margaret University, both, highly regarded UK-based universities.

Not only has Andrew contributed to award these scholarships (EASB-Lions Higher Education Scholarship Awards)to Malaysian although he is a Singaporean, he has also made US$20 million worth of scholarships for deserving students in Asia! Andrew is truly a man of great compassion and vision for educating people. He is really contributing to educating the youths of the world!

I am confident that his contributions will not only transform the youths of our world but also transform his own life to one of joy, satisfaction and fulfillment. As you sow, so shall you reap. Give, and you will receive.

As one approaches one's 60th birthday, the feeling of usefulness and being able to contribute to our communities become more important than enriching oneself financially. Enriching one's life of purpose becomes more fulfilling and rewarding. I trust my good friend, Andrew, is at this stage of his life.

During our recent road-show in Penang to promote the scholarships to ensure that more deserving students get to know of their availability, we shared with the headmasters, student counselors,students and members of the press, that some parents actually sacrificed their retirement savings and may even, re-mortgage or sell their house to finance their children's higher education! Thus, Andrew's contribution will help not only the students, but also their parents to retire more comfortably with the knowledge that a substantial financial burden has been taken care of.

Personally, I feel a great satisfaction that Andrew has entrusted the responsibility of promoting these scholarship to me. It is a trust I find very heavy as I have to make sure that the objectives are met so that more deserving students can avail themselves to these scholarships. Thus, although I may not be in a position to offer such a large number of scholarships, I have gained the trust of my good friend to deliver his contributions to qualified students. Each of us has a role to play in this world and our different roles are just as important to make sure that the full impact of the well-intentioned gesture becomes a reality.

In this respect, I feel grateful that my involvement with the Lions Club has come in handy. As Lions' purpose is to serve, we can serve together and my home club, the Lions Club of KL North, has adopted this as its major project. We are also working with Lions Clubs and other service organizations to help deliver these scholarships to students who qualify.

Being in a position to be able to give and serve is indeed a life enriching experience and I definitely look forward to serving more in the remaining years of my life.

In closing I would like to quote Helen Keller, "I know I am one, but still I am one; I know I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."

An old friend and colleague of mine, Steven Choo called to have lunch and without hesitation, I agreed.

Steven is a very close friend whom I have known for more than thirty years. I first met Steven when I returned from Singapore after training in my new employer's, Olivetti (M) Sdn. Bhd, training center there in 1974.

Steven was very friendly and was already very excited about golfing. He was a member of the Seremban Golf Club at that time. He impressed me, then, as an agressive sale person.

Before long, he was promoted to be my manager. We worked well together and performed quite well and that was followed by another promotion for Steven to Ipoh as the Branch Manager. I was also offered a promotion to be the sales manager for Kota Kinabalu, but I turned down the opportunity as I thought it too far for my liking.

However, another year down the road, I was made another offer which I couldn't refuse. The chance to be the sales manager for our Penang Branch. I assume office in July and kept close contact with Steven. Molly, my wife, and I use to drive all the way to Ipoh, stay at Steven's home, and have breakfast at the famous Ipoh curry noodle shop on Yang Kalsom Road. Really Crazy!

Our friendship stayed strong over the years and subsequently we parted of course, each going our ways but still kept in touch.

Over lunch today, we talked on all the things that were of interest to us and it dawned on me that we were both having almost totally grey hair and passed our our half century mark. Steven was already 60 plus while I was approaching 60 (57 to be exact).

After we parted from lunch, I had the opportunity to reflect on my life and felt happy for both of us as we were still healthy and rasonably successful in our lives, physically and financially.

We are now both doing the things that we love to do and can decide our rate of work involvement and not be too pressured in having to do because of earning a living.

I also felt that life has been kind to me and my involvement in community service through the Lions Club gave and still is giving me great satisfaction in being able to be of use to my community.

Just yesterday, a former staff and colleague of mine, KH Loh, called to have a short meeting with me and brought me great news. The offer of an opportunity to secure a substantially large amount of fund for community service. I am now preparing a paper to request to be submitted to Loh next week. Interesting, we both agreed that though we may now be materially wealthy, we know people who are super rich and willing to offer funds for community and humanitarian services through us. This gives us great satisfaction.

Well, I will now work on the paper and look forward to securing the allocation for me to help those who need assistance most.

Well, as the saying goes - Life is not about what we get out of it, but what we put into it. Anyone game to join me in serving? Write me and I shall be most delighted to invite you into our team. Cheers and good night!

Good morning!

This morning I got up rather early, at 5 a.m. to be exact, due to the unusually warm weather.

I decided to find something to read and thus got into the web and reached an interesting article that caught my attention.

It was an article about the appointment of a Singaporean academician by the name of Dr. Shih Choon Fong, being appointed as president of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia’s much anticipated US$10 billion university.

I was of course happy for Dr. Shih, but I was really pleased that this university select its people, especially the president, basing on competency rather than race, religion or political affiliation. As Malaysians, we have lived in an environment where race, religion and political affiliation have great influence in the selection of people for appointment in so many aspects of our lives. This is indeed most saddening and something that I have quietly campaign against in my own small ways.

I have always taught participants in my success seminars that to be truly successful, we must be able to transcend these mind-sets. We must be able to appreciate that competency has no race, no religion and no political affiliation. Competency is nothing else but competency!

Shih, who is president of the National University of Singapore, has proven himself by contributing significantly to the current high standards that NUS is known for. It is amongst the top universities in the world!

In the appointment of Dr. shih, credit must be accorded to Mr. Ali Al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s minister of petroleum and mineral resources, who is chairman of the university’s governing board. He has the vision and courage to appoint someone who can best fit the bill to deliver results because he is “the right person” to fulfill the vision for the new institution. Know our objective, know the people we require to achieve the objective and get them to do the job! Whatever his or her race, religion or political affiliation has no bearing on his ability to deliver.

This brings to mind remark by the late premier of China, Teng Shau Peng - "Whatever the color of the cat, be it black, white or brown, as long as it catches the most rats, its the right cat."

So focus on wisdom, character and competency instead of irrelevant attributes when choosing people to do the job.

Remember to choose the best to deliver the best result!

5th April 2009

Yesterday was an interesting, eventful and memorable day for me.

I started the day conducting a 3 1/2 hour seminar on Inter-departmental Co-operation and Support for a progressive local college which truly believes in creating a continuous learning platform for its employees whom they term as partners. I had an audience of about 40 people and I was happy that we started the morning punctually and the participants were most co-operative and participatory. I shared with them the value of doing the best one can in every assignment that we are entrusted with no matter how simple the assignment might be. I emphasized to my participants the importance of internalizing the habit of doing our best in everything we do. I also shared with the importance of everyone in an organization and how each of us can make a difference in ensuring the success of the the organization where we are a part of. My sharing of experiences and knowledge was very well received and received very positive feedback which was most rewarding. The day ended at 1.00pm and I felt most rewarded although I have done the session gratis.

Went home to prepare for my next activity of the day; visiting someone who as impacted the lives of many of us, who have studied in a century old institution know as St. John Institution sited in Bukit Nanas, Kuala Lumpur. The person that we were going to visit was our former teacher and subsequently Brother Director who has served Malaysia for 64 years! Our appointment was to be at 5.oopm and since there was still a couple of hours before the scheduled time, I decided to have a short nap as I felt a little tired since I started the day earlier than normal that morning.

Oop, by the time I awoke from my nap, it was nearing 5.00pm and I was supposed to be at the gate of Little Sisters of the Poor Home to meet my very fellow Johanian, Chin Kee and family who has so kindly arranged the visit to our very beloved Brother Lawrence. I was sure that they were already at the Little Sisters of the Poor in Cheras and I felt really bad. For a moment, I was unsure whether I should go or not as I was definitely late. However, this visit was very significant to me have always have great admiration and respect for the De La Salle Brotherhood that has done so much for education in Malaysia and I didn't want to miss this appointment to meet up with someone who has impacted the lives of so many of us through his sheer love of serving and teaching us to become good and useful individuals. I Decided then that no matter what, I must go ahead with the visit and thus, called John, my next door neighbour who is also a Johanian with whom I have, earlier, made arrangement to go together for this visit.

Brother Lawrence's health, we understood from Chin Kee, has deteriorated since he last saw him not too long ago. We were also informed that he had 2 falls recently, the reason for the blood clots on both his arms. Despite his age, and illness, Brother Lawrence was still very dignified and cracked some jokes for us. All of us expressed our thanks to him and John even told him that he was very strict which made Brother Lawrence laughed. He then told us of a student who visited him and when Brother Lawrence asked him if he had made any mark on his (the student) life, he gave a positive response and indicated that the mark was made on his buttock.

Brother Lawrence also expressed his wish to make a trip to Kota Kinabalu as soon as possible when his health recovers. He sounded determined and still wanted to stay active despite of his advanced age. He truly has strong spirit. He expressed that his frustration is not being able to be as active as he would want to be.

Though a short visit, we felt good that we made the trip to visit Brother Lawrence and truly hope that he will recover soonest. We also considered getting him the Astro Entertainment subscription if the Home permits as he mentioned it a few times. John also offered to get him a short wave radio so that he can listen to BBC and Voice of America which he said he like to listen to. As for me, I would love to arrange a trip for him to visit Kota Kinabalu if his health permit as he still remember my good friend in KK who helped him build a little school in a remote village on the outskirt of KK some years ago.

We truly admire and salute Brother Lawrence and many of his kind who have done so much in Malaysian education but seldom acknowledge or publicized. As for Brother Lawrence, we are happy that he has been recognized and awarded the Datukship by His Majesty, our Beloved Agong of Malaysia. Brother, you will always be remembered and love by all of us whose lives you touched one way or another.

John then invited all of us for dinner at the royal Selangor Club which we truly appreciated and enjoyed.

the night was not over for me yet as my brother, Raymond is back from Australia and I had to see him. So I sent John back and picked Molly and headed for KL again. We reached Ray's house at 9.30pm and Isaac arrive slightly later. We had a great session discussing some current issues and received some updates from Ray on the projects and ideas that he has. Keeping in touch with old friends is always energizing especially those who are share positive ideas and happenings.

We parted at 11.30 pm and headed for home.

What are the lessons that the above have for my readers?

Well, gratitude is a quality that we must all have. Many people contributed ot our lives and we mustn't forget them. The good that others do for us must be remembered, while the good we do for others can be forgotten. Also, friends are important to our lives as we human are all social creatures. What we promised must be done; no excuses for not doing them.

Today, while meditating, I recollected my meeting with his Holiness Pachok Rincpoche whom I took refuge with.

After sitting crossed legged in a semi-lotus stance, which was very tiring for me as my legs got cramped and numbed for more than an hour, I asked his Holiness Rinpochi what life is all about.

He gave me a simple but at that moment a very refreshing and re-empowering explanation. He said, "Life is all about service to others."

It stuck me at that instance that i have been living life as it should have been lived without even realising it. Maybe, I need to live more of it by doing more. Maybe I have not done enough although I have been involved in this activity for more than 30 years.

It also, crossed my mind during the same meditative condition that I recalled the sayings of some great people in this world.

One such saying is "You can't get very far, until you do something for someone else." (Melvin Jones, the founder of Lions Clubs International).

Another one that came to my mind was, "Those among us who are truly happy are those who would have sought and found how to serve." (can't remember who said this).

One more, which I like to quote when delivering speeches on service to others, "Give time to your fellow men. Do something. Something for which you get no pay, but the privilege of doing it."

come to think of it, isn't it true that all our lives' journey is about serving others. Serving our parents, our children, our employers, our customers, our friends, relatives, etc. As we reach a higher level of our psychological development, we seek to serve through other platforms like service organizations, religious groups, political groups, etc. Only difference is that some of us serve unconditional without expectation for material rewards while there are those who serve but are handsomely rewarded with financial gains and titles.

So, Life is about service to others and serving others shall be my guideline for living my life.

Thank you all you wise people, past and present.

Thursday, 26th, was a relaxing day for me. Working on my old IBM Thinkpad, on my next training assignment, I received a call from Calvin, a co-ordinate of a client of mine. He asked meekly if I could help out to address a batch of his college's 50 to 60 students on Friday, which was the next day. He was apologetic for such short notice but nevertheless he took the initiative just to try his luck. Also, there was no budget for it - meaning it was a F.O.C assignment. I assured him that I would be most delighted to be able to help in any way I can if he could just give me a minute to check on my availability.

I quickly ran a check on my diary and bingo - the day was free and I responded positively to help out. I requested for some information on the profile of his batch of students and with the information I got, I decided almost immediately what to share with them. I decided to speak from my heart and share my life's journey at their age with them.

On Friday, 27th, I arrived at the college half an hour before the scheduled time which was 4.30p.m.

I was early and the lecture hall was empty except for Calvin and I. He reminded me that the scheduled time was 4.30 p.m. and thank me for being early. I assured him that I was aware of it and that it was my habit to always arrive early to take in the air and acclimatise myself to the environment that I am to speak in. I checked on the equipment that was already properly set up and test the that they were in working order. Test and adjusted the sound system as well. Plugged in my thumb-drive and tested my concluding material which was meant to reinforce what I was going to share with my young audience, my new friends to be.

At 4.30 sharp, we started the session with Calvin giving me a short introduction with a brief bio-data which he got from me. When it was given to him he remarked that it was the simplest bio-data which is devoid of the usual qualifications and achievements which other speakers that he introduced seemed to prefer.

For example, I was described as "big, Strong and Friendly with a strong desire to learn and share useful knowledge and experiences." Calvin thought that my bio-data was friendly and connecting. I thanked him and explained that I was a simple person on a simmple mission - to serve by share.

I started my connection with my young friends to be with the usual salutation and the response was, as usual, weak. I challenged them to do better, and the response this time was just a little better. Not satisfied, I remarked that they could do better than that, to which I got a thunderous response. I complimented them and proceeded to share my life with them. I explained why I was so eager to share with them and remarked that I would be happy if only one person amongst them was able to benefit from what I had to share.

Basically what I share with my young friends were things that I did and things that I regret not having done when I was a student like them. How I later on in life paid my own money to do what they are doing now. Also, how I was not able to appreciate what my parents were sacrificing to put me through my education and which later on in my life, I start to appreciate them, though much later in my life. These were some of the reasons why I was eager so share with them so that they can learn from my mistakes instead of learning from their own. To cut the story short, I shared with them what they should do by sharing with them what I did not do when I was their age and which I realised later that I should have done. Of ocurse, I also share with them some of the self-realisation concepts and techniques which they can practise to help them be more effective in their journeys in life.

As usual, all good things have an end, and the session concluded with the usual applauds that young energetic adults extend so generously.

It was raining as I walked towards my car and I was pleasantly moved when one of my new young friend offered to shelter me with his umbrella to my car. I thanked him and remarked that he was very kind and that you should keep this practise up.

The next surprise came when I was checking my emails in the evening after dinner.

There at the top of my in-box was an email with a name that I remember I heard that afternoon. It was Khong, my new young friend who was smiling and attentive all through my talk. He wrote in to thank me for sharing with all of them and apologise that he was only able to understand "50%" of what I talked about as a result of his weak command of the English language. He enquired if it was alright if he keeps "disturbing" me to seek my advice and help to improve his English and also learn how to set goals, which was one of the topic I emphasised as important during my talk. I was so touch by his desire to want to improve himself and I recalled what I mentioned during my talk that afternoon - "I would be happy if only one person amongst them was able to benefit from what I had to share."

I responded that I was my pleasure to be of service and he was at liberty to email me anytime he need to for any help or advice that he may require. Half an hour later I received a thank you message from him and his assurance that he now knows what to do and that he would focus on his study. He now greeted me as "my friend."

Am I pleased? I was thrilled! Thrilled because if what I shared can help just one young friend feel wanted and that there is someone out there who is willing to help unconditionally, I have been greatly rewarded!

Khong, it's a pleasure to be of service!
Cheers!

Hi,
Yesterday, I was invited to attend a seminar on Fate & Destiny conducted by Dr. Aaron Lim from Malacca. Yes, this man of great love travelled all the way from Malacca to share his wisdom and experiences with us, about 30 in all.

The session from 10am to 5pm was most interesting and what was most rewarding was that Dr. Aaron was able to explain the subject matter with very simple yet powerful words and stories.

Personally, I was pleased that I attended as I was able to understand clearer my purpose in life and the more I listen to Dr. Aaron, I confirmed that I was on the right track at least.

His concluding words, LPG was just great. Love, Praise and Gratitude.

I have always maintained that we can only give love if we possess love. Better still if we are love. It is always more pleasant to be motivated by love than by fear. If we are to go through all the religious books in the world, we can without an element of doubt, established that all the founders of these religions are the embodiment of love. They are willing to share and give unconditionally, including giving their lives where necessary.

It is also very interesting for me as being a member of the Lions Club our Code of Ethics advocate that we serve out of love. As when we care and love, we'll serve. When we serve, the action is the manifestation of ourlove. Also, our 8th and last code is "To be careful with my criticism and liberal with my praise; to build up and not destroy." Truly reflect what every Lions member should be. The embodiment of love, praise and gratitude.

Will definitely attend more of Dr. Aaron's seminars wheneve possible, time permits.

Good night.

Sam

Hi Friends,

Do you believe in the law of "Give and you will receive"? I do.

For the little that I have been giving, mostly in the form of my time and talents, I have received much joy and happiness. Also, the personal development in terms of my ability to lead and organize have been the most invaluable receiving that I have experienced.

Someone, once told me that in serving, we will be receiving in proportion to the amount of service that we give to others. I now know how true this statement is.

My most satisfying gift last year and this year is the granting of 300 scholarships by the East Asia Institute of Management, Singapore, which is owned and operated by my great friend, Andrew.

These scholarships involve the provision of 70% of the course fees for studies towards the attainment of bachelors degrees in business related disciplin.

With these scholarships, I, together with my fellow Lions members will now be able to help 300 deserving Malaysians to study for degrees from the Queen Margaret University of Scotland and the University of Wales Institute Cardiff. Both of these universities are reputable universities that are highly regarded.

the challenge for us now is how to reach these deserving students who qualify (A, B, B and Credit in General Paper at "A: level examination) for the award of the scholarships.

I hope that my readers will help me to spread this good news and put qualifed and intending students onto us so that they can enjoy this gift of love from my good friend.

I can be reached at asam.leong@gmail.com.

God bless.

Sam

Yesterday I received a call from my training partner, Watt, to attend a meeting at the PWTC down in Kuala Lumpur with Datuk Maznah and Dato' Sheik regarding MAPS National Speakers Convention 2009.

While traveling down, Watt shared his experience with me since he took up the Metaphysics course with the University of Metaphysics.

In the first chapter of the course, it was mentioned that one should make oneself the embodiment of love. It is only when one possess love and is love, can one gives love. How profound. The power of love was the basis of his experience that he shared with me.

When Watt, who is 68 years old now, decided to enroll for the Metaphysics course which will lead to a Doctorate in Metaphysics, everyone in his family from his wife to his sons and daughters voiced their objection to it. They were more concern for him as they anticipated that the course may be too taxing on an old man. Instead, they felt that he should be slowing down and enjoy his life and take things easier. Of course, Watt felt very sad that he did not get anyone of their support. Nevertheless, he proceeded with the course.

Fortunately for him, his son-in-law and daughter-in-law were supportive and encouraged him to do what he loves. At the same time they shared with him that his sons and daughters disagreed with him taking the course out of love for him.

He then reflected on the lesson espoused in the Metaphysics course on love and found himself starting to appreciate the thoughts that his wife, sons and daughters had for him. Instead of feeling sad, he now feels happy that all in his family were caring and concerned for him. What is unusual is that he would usually interpret such disagreement negatively no matter what others may advise him. After commencement on his Metaphysics course, he found himself starting to accept the otherside of the actions.

Well, when one think and act with love, own it and be it, one will be able to look at things more positively. Every action can be looked at at least from two angles, the positive or the negative. We have choice which way we interpret it.

this brings me to the famous saying as follow - "We cannot avoid problems or mishaps from happening to us, but, we can definitely decide how we take them and manage them. Within every problem, there are opportunities." With love, these become better.

Cheers and enjoy your lives!