Worst Days

"Its hard to imagine that even our worst days can seem like paradise to another"

Yesterday, I had an odd day. By an large, it would be considered a bad end to a day, a week or maybe even a month. I had failed an exam by the barest of margins. 1 percentage point. Make matters worst, it was an expensive exam which I had failed for the second time and yet that even isn't the entire story. I had planned to make the 22 minute trip across town to get there but 2 minutes before I arrived at the station. By the end of the day, I made the exam but didnt make the grade. And yet, I felt better than I expected because I was able to put everything in perspective. I failed but I can always try again. I lost money yes but I also learned a valuable lesson. 

Arnold once said "Only by facing challenges do you truly find your strength - if the challenge is great, then you must get stronger"

This is my challenge and I will get stronger. 

Importance

"Which is more important? What you have already achieved or what you are about to achieve?" - 28 July

When you face this question and when asked of strangers, you often get some interesting responses. Some say the Past and the other the Future. I see it as one and the same. Every incident in our life touches us in a way, either large or small. It affects out decisions and in turn changes our fate.

Past achievements bring us to the here and now and puts us in a place to move to the future. No doubts every future endeavours seems harder, larger and more audacious than anything you have attempted in the past but you must never ever forget that is always the case when a challenge falls to you. You always climb up with challenges and never down, thats why its call a challenge.

Mistakes

"Some if not all people are fearful of mistakes, they shun it and do all they can to avoid them. Sometimes its best to welcome mistakes" -- June 15 2008

George Soros once said "Every day I hope I find a mistake, when I find one I am extremely happy" or something to that effect. Soros approach to investment is to come up with an idea and then find what wrong with it. When he find a mistake, then he is able to correct them. Each mistake makes his plan even stronger.

To me, I believe it in the same way. Mistakes tells me that I am expanding my horizons and I am trying to improve. Mistakes allows me to stay humble because it reminds me that there is still more that I do not yet know. Mistakes give me feedback on what works well and what doesn't. Mistakes are real, not hypothetical. Small mistakes allows me to grow one step at a time. Larger ones not only forces me to work harder and work smarter to solve but challenges me psychological to overcome perhaps the greatest failings of men, our egos and I have a large one.

Life's Mysteries

"The excellence of life is its filled with mysteries that we can't help but yearn to solve, that is the human strength, not the weapons we craft, not the cities we built nor the societies that we cling to" -- June 13 2008

Barry, A fund's manager I spoke to once, told me "don't be a pessimist, don't be an optimist, be a realist" it was such a profound way of thinking. I won't insult him by mispelling his last name but I asked him how can someone who deals with so much money in this market that has more wild mood swings than a tropical hurricane, can he be so happy all the time?

He replied, I live in a world full of possibilities. Each day I wake, there are a million more and I can't wait to find out what they are.

Thanks Barry. it really changed the way I looked at the world.

Fear

"There are somethings we should fear, somethings we could fear but hardwork and trying shouldn't be one of those fears" -- June 13 2008

I have an anxiety problem. Quite often its not something I can't control and usually, its over something that seems quite trivial. Should I buy this tie, should I buy that tie. Should I go with the white shirt or the blue shirt? Hardly life or death situations but for some odd reason I tense up.

Even more unusual, when I am in the kitchen, making something reasonably complicated, I always find myself singing or humming. Its one of those mysteries of the mind that I want to solve.

It brings up another idea I had.. I have been reading a lot about zen recently..
" Mistakes are there to be made, but so are the lessons that you learn from them."

Earning the Day

"We fight, sweat and struggle to earn a day's honestly living and yet we are rarely happy, perhaps its because we haven't yet earned a day worth living" -- June 11 2008

Money is not the most important thing in the world but if we are all honest, it is maybe 3rd or 4th in our list. Why? Well because everything we covet needs money in some shape or form.

It affects our mood, it can make a miserable day seem like our best. And yet, with salaries close to 1000 times those of our fore fathers, we are more miserable than ever.

Personally, i think that the reason why there is so much despair is because we don't value our time. what we already have. We always look at things we don't have. Believing that if we had those things, we wouldn't be where we are.

Graham Bell once said "When a door is closed to us, we often focus on the closed door so much that we don't notice the other doors that are open to us".

So make the most of your day. go out and live it. be grateful for what you have and worry not about things that you don't.

Dreams

"Reach for your dreams, nothing is impossible. Besides, no one else can live them for you" -- June 11

When I was growing up, I always hear of things that I cannot do or shouldn't do. Not because they were dangerous or illegal but people always viewed them as impossible. I can't be a pro tennis player because I am too short. I shouldn't be a doctor because its hard work and no body appreciates you when you do something right but love to hate you when you are wrong.

I always feel that people see the bad because thats what they want to see.

Zig Zaglar once said "You can't be great for something you are going to do, only for what you have done"

Another one of my personal favorites is "Fate can lead you where you need to go but you alone must decide to make the last great leap"

So did I succeed? Am I a pro tennis player or a doctor? Well... not yet but then again, the story is not over yet.