27 March 2007

You... Beta

"If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they're yours; if they don't they never were." Richard Bach

Wow is an experience, and can be both positive and negative.

Positive wow is all about empathy, or the ability to put oneself into other's shoes. Empathy is a translation of the German term Einfühlung, meaning to feel as one with. It implies sharing the load, or "walking a mile in other's shoes," in order to appropriately understand that person's perspective.

Empathy is different from sympathy. When one is sympathetic, one implies pity but maintains distance from another person's feelings. Empathy is more a sense that one can truly understand another person's feelings. It implies feeling with a person, rather than feeling sorry for a person. Empathy heals, builds trust, and connects people together.

There is no "I" in empathy, but only "you." However, you always rank higher than I in the most commonly used English words. This implies that most people lack empathy. Why is it?

Empathy is about patience and practice. People have unlimited patience for themselves, but zero tolerance for others. You? Forget about it!

Empathy is about listening, but people like to take rather than give. You? Give me more!

Empathy requires that people be willing to question their own opinions, but people are more willing to challenge others than themselves. You? Out of question!

Empathy requires trust and that people temporarily suspend judgment. However, people always enter into a judging mode and attempt to invalidate the experience shaping others' perspective. You? Not a chance!

The value of empathy comes not from understanding others' feelings, but what is done as a result of this.

When was the last time that you did something positive for others?

Effective today, be patience, listen more, and suspend own judgment.

Be YOU!

Zero Beta

"No man should think himself a zero, and think he can do nothing about the state of the world." Bernard Baruch

The number line is a line that starts at zero, and goes to negative infinity on the left and to positive infinity on the right. But why to the right is positive and left negative? Why can't it be the otherwise?

In Economics, the graphical presentation of demand is price on Y-axis, and quantity on X-axis. It is not right because dependant should be on X, and independent on Y.

People know it, but they still prefer to stick with what they are comfortable with. Comfort zone encourages people to stay lazy. It is actually a wall, or an obstacle to reaching success. Comfort zone then becomes a danger zone.

In this danger zone, nothing will be achieved, and everything simply ends up being zero.

The reason why people like to stay in comfort zone is twofold. First, nobody likes discomfort. Second, everyone enjoys comfort. It is no uncommon sense.

Achieving success requires one to move out of the comfort zone, and doing so does not require any planning. It is ineffective to put oneself in the wait-and-see mode to move out of comfort zone.

What one needs to do is shift+delete comfort zone, meaning forget about the existence of comfort.

When there is no concept of comfort zone, everywhere is the same. When there is no difference in zone type, people have to move around and try different things. That's going to be non-zero improvement, which ultimately delivers positive touchpoint experience.

Run away from zero, the smallest number. Run towards infinity, not defined as a very large number, but BEYOND any number! Infinity is about endlessness, reflecting the fact that the number line goes on forever.

Doing right thing at right time is knowledge. Knowing when to do right thing at right time is wisdom. However, knowing without doing delivers either neutral or negative touchpoint experience, while knowing then doing positive.

Reverse the sequence of "hope for the best, prepare for the worst." People will be better off to first prepare for the worst thus setting low expectation, then hope for the best to exceed expectation.

Zero is the origin. Every changes come from the same origin.

Ditto Beta

"'I love you Molly. I have always loved you,' says Sam.

'Ditto,' answers Molly.

'It's amazing, Molly. The love inside, you take it with you. See you,' says Sam.

'See you,' says Molly." Ghost

Ditto means the same.

When everything remains the same, there is no change. Where there is no change, time becomes an irrelevant factor. Yesterday equals today, and today equals tomorrow. Everything becomes ditto.

If people stay the same throughout their lifetime, they will always deliver negative touchpoint experience.

Overtime, everyone expects improvement, but not degradation.

Improvement is the result of knowledge acquisition, but acquiring knowledge alone doesn't necessarily bring improvement. Knowledge is cumulated in terms of quantity, but improvement requires the quality of people to really bring forward the actual improvement. Quality here refers to the ability to walk the talk, and the willingness to stay humble, learn continously, and share freely.

People should acquire and cumulate knowledge day by day.

Knowledge acquisition is learning. Learning is a lifetime process. Learning is meaningless if it is not a lifelong exercise, because things change. Things learned yesterday are obsolete today, and will be dinosaur tomorrow.

People should not be motivated by others to learn, because knowledge acquired belong to the learner alone and only. Learning is definitely not doing a favor for others. Sharing knowledge actually reinforces the power of knowledge acquisition.

Motivation is a motive for action, and it is also the reason that a person chooses to do anything. If the action brings positive results, it is an improvement. Else, it is wasted effort.

People like to compare. By comparing, they can identify the best and the worst. Comparison is impossible when nothing is ever changed.

The world will be a better place when everyone share this same mindset.

26 March 2007

Vow Beta

"Vows made in storms are forgotten in calm." Thomas Fuller

Most people make at least one vow in life. It is not clear if they really want to make the marriage vow at the moment of truth, but below is the vow people usually make in front of their friends and relatives.

"I, (Name),
Take you, (Name),
To be my (wife/husband);
To have and to hold,
From this day forward,
For better, for worse,
For richer, for poorer,
In sickness and in health,
To love and to cherish,
'Till death do us part."

This is known as the responsive vow, which has a romantic elegance to it. It is more personal when compared to the traditional question and answer vow, where the groom/bride simply responds "I do" to "Do you, (Name), take (Name), to be your (wife/husband)?"

Although both vows deliver the same result, customization delivers positive touchpoint experience, and "I do" neutral. Why is that? Customization walks that extra mile.

The second type of vow is made in courtroom by those who are less fortunate.

"Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

What is the meaning of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

The truth is what the person experienced, the whole truth means nothing should be left out, and the nothing but the truth implies absolutely no lies.

Is it possible that in any human situation there is only black and white, and no emotions involved? In life, truth is actually a relative thing. There is no right or wrong, but to be or not to be.

Jesus says that we should hold ourselves to a high standard of truthfulness at all times: "yes" should mean "yes," "no" should mean "no," and there is no need for elaborate formal promises. The Apostle James also said, "Above all, my brothers, do not swear--not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned."

Positive touchpoint experience requires persistent commitment. As long as the commitment is persistent, pledge is meaningless.

20 March 2007

Okay Beta

"You must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are they doing to me? What have they got me reading? What have they got me saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And most important, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big question: Is that okay? Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change." Jim Rohn

Okay is neutral, and is different from want. Want is a positive desire.

Consider below 2 answers to the same question: "Shall we meet tonight?"

Answer 1: Yes, it's okay to meet.

Answer 2: Yes, I want to meet.

Which is more positive? Obviously, it is Answer 2. It tells the inviting party that he or she is needed. Everyone wants to be needed, because that means at least they are of value to others. They are important.

Although okay means it is not a no-go, there is no desire. It may still get done, but it is for the sake of getting it done. It is something from the head, but not from the heart. When it is not from the heart, then it is better not to initiate it in the first place.

Positive touchpoint experience goes beyond okay, just like customer loyalty goes way farther than customer satisfaction.

Everything can be okay. It is okay to do this and that, as long as it is not too disgusting. But there is no passion.

Positive relationship is built when the touchpoint chain delivers consistent positive touchpoint experience. Okay is neither positive nor negative; it is just neutral. Although okay still changes things, the change is only going to be temporary. It won't last. Once the thing is done, it goes back to square one. Want gives the desire to change permanently.

Next time, try not to use okay, but simply say "I'd like/love to..." without hesitation. The world would be a better place.

Okay?

Pause Beta

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy." Guillaume Apollinaire

In order to reach success, everyone needs to act just a bit faster than everyone else. Time is a crucial factor in determining who is the winner, and who isn't.

Same applies to the learning ability. If A has a shorter learning curve than B, A will produce deliverables faster, and thus possess potentially higher ROI. Given that potential, A will be given more resources and opportunities in order to shorten the success cycle. Why would anyone invest in something that gives slower return, when there is something else which gives faster?

Everyone wants immediate deliverables. The quicker, the better. Nobody has the patience to wait. It almost becomes a sin to wait, particularly in the world of information-rich and time-poor.

That is very pathetic. Is it "better late than never" no longer true? Is it always "it's now or never?"

What is what now?

Pause... please wait a second...

Think twice... if it is never, there is no chance of ever producing the deliverables. It's done. It's totally over. But, late at least delivers... it is not always now or never. The idea of "now or never" basically put every potential positive touchpoint experience to an end.

When there is a negative touchpoint, pause! Right at that moment of pause, it actually delivers positive touchpoint experience to all parties immediately. It is an all-win situation. Why not pause?

It takes two hands to clap, and do pause before clapping.

The clapping could be positive after the pause, but negative before the pause.

11 March 2007

24x7 Beta

"In my view, what people really want is a time-sharing system of unlimited size and power, with very secure virtual firewalls, which can be available 25x8 (not just 24x7), and where backup and recovery are done automatically and with someone else's money." Jon 'maddog' Hall

24x7 means non-stop operation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Then there is 24x7x365, meaning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.

But 24x7x365 is redundant, because 365 already covers 7. Why 24x7x365 then?

People always like to exaggerate in order to create make-believe. They believe more is always better, and less is never enough. Interestingly enough, the opposite of their belief is what everyone wants. More is never better, and less is always more.

Positive touchpoint experience is about the willingness to compromise, and this requires mutual understanding. Mutual understanding is all about give-and-take. Give is about providing feedback. Take is about listening, but not hearing. Listening is different from hearing. Listening is something requires the use of heart, but not the use of head.

Hearing without listening results in termination of touchpoint chain.

24x365 means nothing if every second is filled with negative touchpoint experience. One second of positive touchpoint experience also means nothing if it is not sustainable.

10 March 2007

Dream Beta

"The questions you ask are too simple, sometimes naive." Jiang Zemin

When something is changed, it is changed. There is no hope of returning to square one. It is more wrong hoping that by investing more, the good old days will come back. Fact is, the more one continues to invest, the more one is going to suffer. There is simply no point of return, until the person wakes up.

Dreaming is always nice. Everything can be done in a dream, but can also be undone in the dream. Nobody has to worry about the consequence of wrongdoings in the dream. Nobody has to bear any responsibility.

However, a dream is still a dream. It does not last forever. In fact, nothing lasts forever. When the dream is expired, reality returns. Everything is back to normal. Everyone has feelings again. Everyone feels happy, sad, angry and glad; and all these give experience.

To dreamer, dream is positive touchpoint experience, and reality negative. Pencil is positive, and pen negative. Talk the walk is positive, and walk the talk negative. Anything abstract is positive to dreamers, anything solid, negative.

It is time to get up. Abstract does not even exist. Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned. Positive touchpoint experience is about going from A to B without inventing letters between.

Good night. Sweet dreams... then daydream again during the day...

09 March 2007

X Beta

"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut." Albert Einstein

X is a very special letter. It is perhaps the only alphabet with many different meanings.

According to Cambridge Dictionary Online, there are X number of definitions of X.

X is the 24th letter of the English alphabet, and is also the least frequently used letter in the English alphabet. The other twos are Q and Z.

X is often used as an unknown in Mathematics. According to legend, a 17th century printer's problem helped X to land its major job symbolizing something unknown. For the many equations in his now-famous 1637 mathematical work La Geometrie, Rene Descartes chose letters A, B, and C to represent any three constants and X, Y, and Z to represent any three unknown quantities. He intended that Z be the first unknown (corresponding to A), and Y second and X third. But the story goes that the printer, while typesetting the manuscript, found himself repeatedly running short of letter blocks for Y and Z, due in part to Descartes' many equations calling for these letters. However, the printer still had plenty of X's, a letter that in French-language print is used far less than Y or Z. So the printer wrote to Descartes, asking whether it made any difference which of the three, Z, Y, or X, appeared in equations of one or two unknowns - and might X be the preferred letter for printing purposes? The great man replied that this was acceptable. And that is why the Geometrie tends to favor X as the letter of an unknown quantity, especially in the second half of the treatise.

X is not only a letter but also a symbol. It represents wrong. Its enemy is O, usually perceived as right. In tic tae toe, they go hand in hand.

X represents a generation. People born between 1963 and 1978 are generally considered "Generation X."

X is synonymous with smut in movies. There is no significant difference between X- and XXX-rated movies. As long as the movie is rated X, it contains "mature" contents, and prohibits non-adults from viewing it.

X is a well known symbol of Christ, from the Greek letter chi. Xmas and Christmas are truly one and the same.

X can also be used to represent a kiss.

X... it does not have an identity, as it has too many. If X is a message, then the message definitely delivers negative touchpoint experience. Nobody is able to understand the message, as it contains too many messages. When there is too much information in the information, that piece of information becomes useless, and the possibility of producing positive deliverables is limited.

X... what exactly is X?