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Make Some Money
Who’s the winner?
Do people learnt from past mistakes?
Do people really learnt from past mistakes and not repeat them again?
I don’t think so and my assumption is based on a recent conversation that I had with a fellow colleague of mine.
You see, this colleague of mine whom I shall call K, have this major problem of being a habitual gambler who actively gambles on soccer matches. The coincidence of him being my colleague is by no way coincidental; he was forced by circumstances of his own makings to take up this job. He actually accumulated a debt of over 20K from his unhealthy gambling habits. Being a full-time student, his studies is of utmost importance to him and instead of concentrating on his studies, he has to divide his energy into taking up a job and studying at the same time to repay his debt.
Initially, I believed he had learnt his lessons and won’t repeat the same mistakes again.
How wrong I was!
As the saying goes, a leopard will never change its spots! It was also spots on for him!
Struggling to repay his debt at first, I could sense and feel a genuine desire from him to quit his gambling habits. However, after a period of few months, he finally let the cat out of the bag and told his parents about his predicament. And his dear loving parents decided to clear his debts for him. And soon enough, he was back to his old ways.
I don’t know whether is this a good way for parents to show their love. As a parent myself, I can certainly understands how they feel but If I’m them, instead of directly helping him, I will want him to learn his lessons first. Rushing to help them the moment they cry help will only make them over dependent on you and worst of all, they will not learn from their mistakes and they will stand to make the same mistakes over and over again.
Well, much earlier when he told me that his parents have just cleared his debt for him, I have guessed that the day of his resignation will be coming soon. How insightful I am! I posed a few questions to him the day he informed me of his decision to quit the job and at that particular time while he was talking to me, he was busy placing bets on a couple of matches over the internet at work and the conversation went something like this:
Me: Wow! You still gamble, have you not learn your lesson?
K: Don’t know! I can’t seem to stop!
Me: What is it about gambling on soccer that attracts you? Is it the lure of easy money or the thrills you get from betting on matches?
K: (Silence. Deep in thoughts.)
Me: If you are looking for easy money, then you are looking at the wrong place! 9 out of 10 people or 9.5 out of 10 people who gambles lose money, don’t you know!
K: Not 9 or 9.5 out of 10. From what I’ve learnt, it’s more like 9.9 out of 10.
Me: (Silence for 1 to 2 seconds) If you understand, then why still gamble? Are you looking for cheap thrill? If looking for cheap thrills, there are lots of other stuff you can do man!
K: (Look at his computer screen) I’m not sure!
The above dialogue may not be a true reflection of that day’s conversation with him but it was pretty close content-wise. From the way he answered me and from his body language, I can pretty guess much it’s a combination of both the lure of easy money and cheap thrills.
The frustrating thing is that he knows that the possibilities of losing is very high, however out there somewhere in him, there still lies a glimmer of hope that somehow, somewhere, sometimes he will be lucky.
Well, to that I can only say good luck to him!
Click your life away!
How often does one see himself in a movie! Well, you don’t get that often right! Recently, I watched the movie ‘Click’ with my beloved half. Expecting more or less the same comedic stuff from the ever so funny Adam Sandler, I was at first reluctant to go. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of Adam Sandler, it’s just that the movie garnered not so good ratings from the local papers and nowadays I tend to selectively go for movies that have better reviews as I do not have as much free time as I do in the past. Never did I expected that the movie to be so heart-warming and full of subtle messages that I gained different perspectives in life after watching it.
The movie talked about the main character “Adam” who was so caught up in the rat race for success that he neglected the most important things in his life, his family in the process. In the movie, Adam was an architect who was busy building up his career and coping with the demands of his family, consisting of his beautiful wife and two kids and his parents too. One day, fed up with his progress at work and also with the demands of his family, he took a drive round town and came across a weirdo who gave him a “universal remote controller” to solve his problems. Thinking it to be a normal remote controller, he accepted it willingly although under the condition of no return policy.
Hilarious scenes soon followed when he discovered how to fully utilise the power of this special “universal remote controller” However in his haste to get the success that he so craved, he choose to press the “fast forward” button to get to the end results, foregoing a lot of memories and events in the process. Unknowingly to Adam, as the “universal remote controller” has the unique ability to record his preferences over his “fast forward” choices, soon most of the time his life was on “autopilot” and his life was fast forwarded into the future.
Due to him missing out on a lot of events and the chance to spend quality time with his family, he found himself divorced from his wife and alienated from his children and parents. At this point, he desperately wanted to salvage the situation but was prevented when he was once again propelled into the future. Things go from bad to worse, in the end, when he laid dying at the roadside with his family around him, he realised the full folly of using shortcut (the (universal remote controller”)to attain success in life, neglecting his family in the process and he reminded his son not to follow in his footsteps.
At that moment when Adam passed away, he found himself back at the store where he first got the “universal remote controller”. He realised that it was a bad dream after all. Glad with this discovery, he made his way back to his parents’ house where he declared his love to his parents. After that, he went back to his house and woke everyone up and told them how much he loved them and he was going to keep his words and bring them for a camping trip the next day. Well, that’s how a good family show should end, warm and fuzzy.
To me, the whole roadside scene was the highlight of the show and my wife confessed to me that it very nearly made her cry. It also made me realised the importance of my family and made me determined that in my chase for success, I must not neglect my family in the process. I’m very impressed at how this movie had actually turned out to be, not your usual full of laughs movie but one full of meaningful messages, one that is for self-reflection.
In life, there are always certain regrets, just make sure that your family is not one of them.
Understanding Vs Application
This instalment is a continuation of the previous post which I highlighted the difference between knowing the meaning and understanding it.
Let me delved a bit deeper into the understanding part. One important aspect which I failed to mention the last time round was that there is another deeper level of perception to the whole concept, the application part.
Let me asked you a very simple hypothetical question. How many of you have actually tried to learn a second language but failed to master it even though you learn by heart all the words’ meanings, how each sentence is structure, etc. Have you ever wonder why? You have spent a great amount of time and effort into learning and understanding the basics but yet failed to master it.
The answer is very simple, because you failed to apply it consistently in a correct manner. As regards to the mastery of a language, you need to pluck up the courage and go round to speak to people who are natives’ speakers as often as you can. And by doing that you are consistently practising what you have learn and along the way if mistakes are made, you would be able to correct it. If you don’t practise what you have learn, sooner or later all these efforts in learning the basics will go down the drain in vain.
Sounds familiar right!
Well, the same thing goes for everything in life, it’s no use understanding the basics or even the more detailed stuff. Just get your butt off the ground and really start doing it.
So do you really understand what I meant! If so, may I know why are you still here!!! Go and start planning all the stuff you want to do and really start doing it.
Don’t procrastinate!
Alright! Alright! Why are you still here, my dear friends? Time won’t wait for you.
GO ACTION! GO! GO! GO!
The saga continues………..!
Well, as the ancient chinese saying goes, ‘failure is the mother of all success’, I used to wonder why people have to go through failures in life before success. There’s no logic at all but as times flies past, I began to understand more and more on this profound saying.
Just like how steel is forged in the fiery fires of a furnace, one’s life also goes through the same process in a different way. By going through the trials and tribulations of one’s life, one will emerge the real winner when one is able to take everything in his stride and always seek to better himself.
My mentor always drummed into me the basic requirements of a true entrepreneur, one thing that keep me thinking is the word ‘CONVICTION’. What he meant by that? Somehow or the other, this word seems so easy to understand, what’s the big deal about it!If you check the dictionary, ‘CONVICTION’ means ‘an unshakable belief in something without need for proof or evidence’.
Wow! Easy right, the meaning is so straightforward and so simple that a primary school kid would be able to understand. Ha! If you think so, then my dear friend you are wrong and that shows a certain degree of naivety in your thinking. Knowing its meaning and really understanding it are really two separate issues.
For those of you, who up to this stage still don’t understand why or those who have not yet taste failures in life yet, it may be a bit too profound. You may ask “What the hell! If I believe I can do it, I can do it!”. Wait till you come to a critical crossroad in life and when you think of this word again, maybe then you will throughly understand it.
But do you have the courage and persistence to follow it?
Yes! There will always be a small group people who are mentally strong and with the correct attitudes in life who already have the word ‘CONVICTION’ in their genes. So, do you fall into this group!If yes, good for you but for the majority of people, they have to learn through the hard way in life.
Well, that’s life for you. If you can’t or don’t want to face up to reality, then you better be content with what you have right now.
Brief Introduction by Albert!
Welcome to tang’s sanctuary.
I’ve been toying with this idea of setting up a website to document the ins and outs of my life for many months. And finally after much deliberation, this website was finally up. My dear wife, Irene and I will be contributing regularly to this website to share with you readers our very mundane lives and our love for our two beautiful children, Amilie aged 2 and Izaac just past his sixth month.
Well, let me give a brief introduction of myself. I’m 30 and on the way to 31 this coming year. I’m a cheerful, funny, humorous and optimistic, open and very talkative person who can be serious at times. That’s why now I’m in an industry that requires me to talk all the time; can you guess what it is?
I used to be very humorous and funny guy still is but the degree has been tempered by the trials and tribulations of life! Well, chimp (unfathomable) is it! That’s means you are still young! Ha!
So stay tune in the future for more “happenings” on this site, and please bookmark it for future visits! Ciao!
Special Gift For The Special Someone
Christmas is just around the corner.
Decide to have my little list of gifts ideas.
Gifts for the special someone
Gifts ideas heard from others
Sharing it out
For those special ones…….
I For Love
It’s fate that we met
It’s the common interest that got us together
It’s you I wanna be with
It’s you I wanna say
I am lucky to have met you
I Love You