People That will Inspire You- Against all Odds

We all need heroes, someone to look up to. The people who you choose as heroes,mentors or idol(whatever you may call them) are a reflection of who you are or who you want to be. So choose people who add true value to your life. When I was young my heroes were the firemen, nowadays they are people who have succeeded inspite of difficulties. Someone who have become successful like Bill Gates, Walt Disney, Donald Trump and many more. I don`t admire movie stars, sports stars or celebrities. Reason being these people will normally disappoint or distress us when they fall from grace. People like Tyson, Tiger Woods and even Lohan are bad influence to youngsters today.
Even Robert Kiyosaki said in his Cashflow Quadrant book that you need heroes to succeed. Someone to look up to, to learn from. Apart from reading inspirational books, I also like to read about the lives of successful people. I like to read about how they succeeded through difficulties, their rags to richest stories and how they live. To my surprise most of them are very frugal. I like to catchup on the news of how they are doing now. Even closer to home, there are people who has succeded against all odds and they are my inspiration. To name a few there is Lim Goh Tong of Genting Highlands, Dr. Mahathir our former Prime Minister, Tony Fernandez of Air Asia and more.

Lim Goh Tong

Lim Goh Tong is the guy who took an unexplored hilltop to make it one of the famous holiday destination in Malaysia, the Genting Highlands. I came across his bio in the Genting Highlands website. He is a fine example of the results of what a `Can Do` and `Never Give Up` attitude can do. Lim Goh Tong was an immigrant from a little mountainous county in Fujian, China. He came to Malaysia to work as a carpenter and rised up to be a building sub-contractor. The idea for Genting Highlands came when he was having dinner in Cameron Highlands. He thought it would nice to have a cool place where people can escape from the heat in the lowlands. As Cameron Highlands was too far from Kuala Lumpur, he had to search for another location. He did some research and that's where he found an unexplored hilltop called Genting Highlands. He started building a casino up there. And he continued adding building after building until it is what it is now. As he was building at a new unexplored location, there were many difficulties he had to face. But all the difficulties didn`t stop him. You can click on the link below to read about him. He has since passed away in 2007, now the Genting Empire he created is being run by his son

Have Heroes that Inspire you

We all need heroes, someone to look up to. The  people who you choose as heroes,mentors or idol(whatever you may call them) are a reflection of who you are or who you want to be. So choose people who add true value to your life. When I was young my heroes were the firemen, nowadays they are people who have succeeded inspite of difficulties. Someone who have become successful like Bill Gates, Walt Disney, Donald Trump and many more. I don`t admire movie stars, sports stars or celebrities. Reason being these people will normally disappoint or distress us when they fall from grace. People like Tyson, Tiger Woods and even Lohan are bad influence to youngsters today.

Even Robert Kiyosaki said in his Cashflow Quadrant book that you need heroes to succeed. Someone to look up to, to learn from. Apart from reading inspirational books, I also like to read about the life of successful people. I like to read about how they succeeded through difficulties, their rags to richest stories and how they live. To my surprise most of them are very frugal. I like to catchup on the news of how they are doing now. Even closer to home, there are people who has succeded against all odds and they are my inspiration. To name a few there is Lim Goh Tong of Genting Highlands, Dr. Mahathir our former Prime Minister, Tony Fernandez of Air Asia and more.

Datuk Tony Fernandez

He is the guy who you normaly see in the media casually dressed and wearing his signature red Air Asia Cap. But he is the guy who had a dream, mortgage his home, bought an ailing airlines for RM1 which landed him with a RM40 million debt and finally turn the airlines company around to make it one of the best low cost airlines in the world. He started AirAsia after the September 11, when everyone was afraid to fly. And many airlines was going into the red. But Tony Fernandez said this timing was perfect. The leasing cost of planes were low and airlines lay-offs meant that that experience staff were readily available. He is a great example of turning lemons into lemonades. He is also a great example of Managing by Walking Around, people have seen him carrying luggage, checking in guest and so on. He believes that if you are closer to the ground you can hear more. On reading his bio I was surprised that he was from my hometown.

Little Inspirational & Self Help Books

The Monk who sold his Ferrari

This book as most of books in my Little Inspirational & Self Help Books  lense comes in a story form. The first six chapters tells of the storyteller's mentor having a heart attack in the middle of a court case and how he goes in search of a way to improve his life. He thus meets with the Sages of Sivana. There's even a funny story to help you remember the steps. The story goes like this
You are sitting in the middle of a magnificent, lush, green garden. This garden is filled with the most spectacular flowers you have ever seen. The environment is supremely tranquil and silent. Savor the sensual delights of this garden and feel as if you have all the time in the world to enjoy this natural oasis. As you look around you see that in the center of this magical garden stands a towering, red lighthouse, six stories high. Suddenly, the silence of the garden is disturbed by a loud creaking as the door at the base of the lighthouse opens. Out stumbles a nine-foot-tall, nine-hundred-pound Japanese sumo wrestler who casually wanders into the center of the garden.
As this sumo wrestler starts to move around the garden, he finds a shiny gold stopwatch which someone had left behind many years earlier. He slips it on, and falls to the ground with an enormous thud. The sumo wrestler is rendered unconscious and lies there, silent and still. Just when you think he has taken his last breath, the wrestler awakens, perhaps stirred by the fragrance of some fresh yellow roses blooming nearby. Energized, the wrestler jumps swiftly to his feet and intuitively looks to his left. He is startled at what he sees. Through the bushes at the very edge of the garden he observes a long winding path covered by millions of sparkling diamonds. Something seems to instruct the wrestler to take the path, and to his credit, he does. This path leads him down the road of everlasting joy and eternal bliss.
A summary of what the story means
Magnificent, lush, green garden.
The garden represents our mind. Like a beautiful garden we should plant and nurture positive thoughts. A gardener always never allows the weeds to grow and take over his garden. The weeds here symbolize the negative thoughts and the lush flowers symbolize the positive thoughts. Like a gardener who constantly fertilizers his plants with the best manure, we should constantly fertilizer our mind with positive affirmation.
Towering six stories red lighthouse
The lighthouse symbolizes the power of goals and the importance of discovering your calling in life. By setting and writing down the goal. By reviewing daily, you keep yourself on the right path. Like the lighthouse which guides the ships even in stormy weather, your written goals will guide you on even if there are obstacles in your way.
Nine-foot-tall, nine-hundred-pound Japanese sumo wrestler
The sumo wrestler will be your reminder of the power of kaizen, the Japanese word for constant self-expansion and progress. We should constantly look for new ways to improve our life. Even Sun Tzu has a quote on this in his Art of War Manual.
"Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions." Chapter 6. WEAK POINTS AND STRONG verse 32
The pink wire cable covering the sumo wrestler private parts
The pink wire cable will serve to remind you of the power of self-control and discipline in building a richer, happier and more enlightened life. Many thin, tiny wires placed one on top of the other will make a strong wire. Alone, each one is flimsy and weak. But, together, their sum is much greater than their constituent parts and the cable becomes tougher than iron. Self-control and willpower are similar to this. To build a will of iron, it is essential to take small, tiny acts in tribute to the virtue of personal discipline. Routinely performed, the little acts pile one on top of another to eventually produce an abundance of inner strength.
Shiny gold stopwatch
Shiny gold stopwatch is a symbol of our most important commodity - time. Don't waste even one minute of your day. Develop a deathbed mentality. Do the important things in your life that will improve your life in the future. Use the 80/20 percent rule. What this means is concentrate on 20 percent of your activity that will bring you 80 percent satisfaction in the future. Spend more time with your family, watch the sun going up. Believe me after waking up early and watching the sun rise I have a better day the whole day. That is why I believe that is the reason why most religion worships early facing the sun. Try it really relaxes your mind. Never be a prisoner of the past but be the architect of the future.
The fresh yellow roses
The blooming flowers is a reminder of the ancient Chinese proverb, "a little bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you roses." The meaning is when you work to improve the lives of others; you indirectly improve your own life in the process. When you take care to practice random acts of kindness daily, your own life becomes far richer and more meaningful. I think everyone have heard of this saying what goes around comes around. Cultivate friends and nurture family. Develop an optimistic outlook of life.
The path of diamonds
Serves to remind you of the final virtue for enlightened living. By carrying this principle with you through your daily work, you will enrich your life. The path of diamonds symbolizes our present path that is one rich in diamonds. Slow things down. Enjoy the beauty and sacredness of all that is around you. You owe this to yourself." Never put off the things that are important for your well-being and satisfaction to a later time. Never chase the greener pasture on the other side and sacrifice the one over here. This I have to be true. I have always worked really hard thinking the more successful I am in my job, the more money I will receive, the happy I will be. Lately this I found not to be true. Yes I am wealthier now but I still have to work even harder to keep my job. I have no time for my family. Always remember that the path you are walking on right now is beautiful and studded with diamonds.
This book provides an approach to living a simple life with greater balance, strength, courage and abundance of joy. Made me realize the most important people in my life, my family. And that how hard I work for my boss, at the end of the day he will be smiling to the bank and I will get the same salary at the end of the month. And my family will see me lesser and lesser.
The author's website http://www.robinsharma.com/

Share Uplifting and Inspiring Stories with your staff

I like to tell my employees stories that will help them understand the importance of good and genuine customer service. One that I have heard and is constantly reminding my new employees is the one about the Oriental Bangkok staff giving a guest his shoe laces as the guest was in hurry for a very important meeting and he forgot to bring his shoe laces. That is why Oriental Bangkok is noted as one of the best service hotel in the world. I also like to print for them true stories of how good customer service will also in turn help you. One example is the story below which someone send to me.

The Hotel Manager
One stormy night many years ago, an elderly man and his wife entered the lobby of a small hotel in Philadelphia. Trying to get out of the rain, the couple approached the front desk hoping to get shelter for the night.
"Could you possibly give us a room here?" the husband asked. The clerk, a friendly man with a winning smile, looked at the couple and explained that there were three conventions in town
"All of our rooms are taken," the clerk said. "But I can't send a nice couple like you out in the rain at one o'clock in the morning. Would you perhaps be willing to sleep in my room? It's not exactly a suite, but it will be good enough to make you folks comfortable for the night."
When the couple declined, the young man pressed on. "Don't worry about me; I'll make out just fine," the clerk told them. So the couple agreed.
As he paid his bill the next morning, the elderly man said to the clerk, "You are the kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. Maybe someday I'll build one for you."
The clerk looked at the couple and smiled. The three of them had a good laugh. As they drove away, the elderly couple agreed that the helpful clerk was indeed exceptional, as finding people who are both friendly and helpful isn't easy.
Two years passed. The clerk had almost forgotten the incident when he received a letter from the old man. It recalled that stormy night and enclosed a round- trip ticket to New York, asking the young man to pay them a visit.
The old man met him in New York, and led him to the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th street. He then pointed to a great new building there, a palace of reddish stone, with turrets and watchtowers thrusting up to the sky.
"That," said the older man, "is the hotel I have just built for you to manage."
"You must be joking," the young man said.
"I can assure you that I am not," said the older man, a sly smile playing around his mouth.
The old man's name was William Waldorf Astor, and the magnificent structure was the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The young clerk who became its first manager was George C. Boldt.
This young clerk never foresaw the turn of events that would lead him to become the manager of one of the world's most glamorous hotels. The BOOK says that we are not to turn our backs on those who are in need -- for we might be entertaining angels.

Delivering Great Customer Service

Who Moved My Cheese ?

I came across this book in my sister's book rental shop. But didn't pay much attention to it cause the title and the cover looks like a kids story book. I admit I am guilty of judging this book by its cover. After hearing about it from some friends, I went to look for it. Read it in one day as it was very interesting.
This book explores the different ways people approach change through a story using mice and "little people," hobbit like people. The mice are called Sniff and Scurry and the little people are Hem and Haw. The four live in a maze and look for cheese to make them happy. However, one day their cheese is gone. The cheese is a metaphor of what we want in life (money, possession, love and so on) and the maze is our surrounding. You will learn by reading how the four characters face the unexpected loss of the "cheese". And also how they deal with change, where three of them are successful. He writes his finding on the wall so others can learn. You too can use the handwriting on the wall for ways to deal with change. It's a book for everyone. Enjoy!
When used in real life
Most people myself included tend to get comfortable in a job when we work for a good company, good boss and good working environment. We should always be like the two mice in the book, constantly keeping ourselves abreast with new things happening around us. So when things are not going to well, we will be ready. We should also be more aware of our surroundings. This will then make us ready to adapt to bigger changes that are to come. This reminds me what Zig Ziglar wrote in his book See You at the Top . It's about the frog who sits in water that gets warmed up. The frog continues to sit there enjoying the warmth until the water gets to hot that he gets boiled in it.

Little Inspirational & Self Help Books