Never too late to show a bit of compassion…

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.
- Charter for Compassion

The inspirational story of Team Hoyt: father and son.

Remember: “Yes You Can!”

If you’re stuck in a rut and need something to pick you up, give you that sense that you can achieve anything. Then watch this video and be awestruck by the amazing things people achieve everyday =)

If you ever hear someone say “No way!”, remember this video and reply “Yes way!”

I’ve seen Randy Pausch Last lecture multiple times on YouTube and everytime I hear what he says, I feel a tingle up my spines (in a good way) and always get my eyes watering.

Here’s a 10min version of his last lecture, instead of full 1 hour lecture. So I hope you don’t give yourself an excuse not to watch this for 10mins! It will change your life.

Here is a truly amazing story of 25 year old Nick Vujicic who was born without limbs. Nick learnt to deal with his disability, and it was only when he began to embrace his situation that he started to achieve greater things in his life.

Individuals like Nick Vujicic can teach us to appreciate what we have, and encourage us to never give up, that we can overcome the challenges in our lives.

“People say to me, ‘How can you smile?’” he says. “Then they realize ‘there’s got to be something more to life than meets the eye if a guy without arms and legs is living a fuller life than I am.’

Will Smith stars in his new movie Seven Pounds playing ‘Ben Thomas’, an IRS Agent who seems to be quite unstable. In the movie we follow ‘Ben’ as he goes around doing what IRS men do, and you might even question his work ethics (harassment, abuse, stalking etc).

Regardless of how confusing and lost you might feel when you start watching the movie, bear with it, it actually has a plot you will soon come to understand.

“It is within my power to drastically change their circumstances” - Ben

The movie will keep you curious and constantly guessing until the pieces start to click together.

I’m sure there are critics out there who don’t enjoy films like this, but I’m really glad to have something more than the mindless time killers out in the market. I truly believe that movies like Seven Pounds and The Pursuit of Happyness can make us all take a good look at ourselves, our lives, and inspire us into action.

Hope you all had a fantastic New Year! All that celebrating and time-out was probably a welcomed break from the routine, but now it’s time to get that brain of ours ticking again~

Here’s something from Dale’s blog which I found quite interesting - food for thought. It can be potentially confusing so make sure to take your time reading it =)

Here’s an insightful story from the internet I would like to share with you:

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A successful businessman took a vacation to a small coastal Mexican village on doctor’s orders. As he was taking a walk along the pier, he sees a small boat full of several large fish. The businessman complimented the fisherman and asked him: “How long did it take you to catch them?”

“Only a little while,” the fisherman replied.

“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?”

“I have enough to support my family and give a few to friends,” the fisherman said as he unloaded them into a basket.

The businessman then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The fisherman replied, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor.”

The businessman scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would increase your profits and sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this tiny coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then to LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”

The businessman replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then, senor?”

The businessman laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions, senor? Then what?”

The businessman said, “Then you would retire. Move to a tiny coastal fishing village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

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The moral of the story is to know how to balance your time between your loved ones and your journey to bigger and better things.

Wealth is not about the money, it’s about what you can do with it.

Here’s an inspirational video on not giving up.

I’ve taken the liberty of typing up the Don’t Quit Poem:

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will.
When the road you’re trudging, seems all up hill.

When funds are low, and debts are high.
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.

When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest, if you must…. but don’t you quit

Life is strange, with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns.

And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow
You may succeed with another blow

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt

And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far:

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit -
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Many people say that it’s the beginning of a new era if Barack Obama wins this election. Obviously Obama is now the 44th President of America. It’s very interesting to see how far America has come to for us to see the first Black President. America has obviously evolved quite a bit since the days of slavery and is pretty incredible to see Martin Luther King’s famous speech, “I have a dream…” actually beginning to come true.

Another bonus for Obama is that he grew up in Indonesian and hopefully understands some Muslim culture and custom. We will find out if this is true, but it’s what we would like to think, at least hopefully understand more than the other 43 presidents before him since he has actually lived and experienced it first hand.

Also, Obama grew up in the ‘main streets’ of America and faced many of the same challenges ‘main street’ American faced. Unlike some of the more recent president who were effectively born and breed into a role of politics, Obama is just another ‘Joe Bloggs’ from the street (within my time anyways). Let’s hope Obama can get America out of the mess that Bush created.

Personally I think it’s great that an ordinary black American from the streets can become the president of America. It truly makes you believe, if he can become the first black president of America, then we can be and do anything we put our mind to!

What is your excuse?

Here’s some content on leadership from Your Success Club