A Procrastinator

Lately, I’m really good procrastinator (or I’m trying to avoid of doing my homework, paper project and etc) and this quote has made me laugh;

A Quote : There's enough literature on curing procrastination; it's time for a new emphasis on how best to enjoy it.

Here are 10 tips to procrastinate like a pro (from 2009 Planner by Mark Asher)

1. If something spills on your desk, clean the whole desk and shelves too.
2. Never let a a critical task get in the way of going to the store to replenish something you're almost out of.
3. Make sure everything is in proper working order before you begin working.
4. Always take your lunch break on time and allow plenty of time for digestion before returning to work.
5. Analyze a task multiple times before leaping into action.
6. Never take on more than you think you can possibly handle.
7. Never go for long periods without checking your email
8. If you're shopping for one thing, look for other you might need or your parents might need or your neighbors might need.
9. Keep up with technology by changing the ring tone on your cell phone every day.
10. Never fear leaving your work - it'll be there when you get back.

After reading few times of this "sarcastic" tips given above I realized that I’m wasting a lot of my time and abundance of my work is still waiting in line. Then, this Surah has reminded me…

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful

(1) By the time of the afternoon! (2) Surely, the human is in a (state of) loss, (3) except those who believe and do good works and charge one another with the truth and charge one another with patience.

Ya Allah! I stand before you humbled

The 90/10 Principle

Got this from email and straight to my conclusion and moral of this story BE OPTIMISTIC!

10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. What does this mean? We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breaking down. The plane will be late arriving, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic. We have no control over this 10%. The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%. How? By your reaction. You cannot control a red light., but you can control your reaction. Don't let people fool you; YOU can control how you react.

Let's use an example.

You are eating breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup of coffee onto your business shirt. You have no control over what just what happened. What happens when the next will be determined by how you react.You curse. You harshly scold your daughter for knocking the cup over.She breaks down in tears.

After scolding her, you turn to your spouse and criticize her for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle follows. You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get ready for school. She misses the bus. Your spouse must leave immediately for work.

You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are late, you drive 40 miles an hour in a 30 mph speed limit. After a 15-minute delay and throwing $60 traffic fine away, you arrive at school. Your daughter runs into the building without saying goodbye. After arriving at the office 20 minutes late, you find you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse. You look forward to coming home, When you arrive home, you find small wedge in your relationship with your spouse and daughter.

Why? Because of how you reacted in the morning. Why did you have a bad day?

A) Did the coffee cause it?

B) Did your daughter cause it?

C) Did the policeman cause it?

D) Did you cause it?

The answer is " D".

You had no control over what happened with the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds is what caused your bad day. Here is what could have and should have happened.

Coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say, "It's ok honey, you just need, to be more careful next time". Grabbing a towel you rush upstairs. After grabbing a new shirt and your briefcase, you come back down in time to look through the window and see your child getting on the bus. She turns and waves. You arrive 5 minutes early and cheerfully greet the staff. Your boss comments on how good the day you are having.

Notice the difference? Two different scenarios. Both started the same. Both ended different.

Why? Because of how you REACTED. You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other 90% was determined by your reaction.

Here are some ways to apply the 90/10 principle. If someone says something negative about you, don't be a sponge. Let the attack roll off like water on glass. You don't have to let the negative comment affect you! React properly and it will not ruin your day. A wrong reaction could result in losing a friend, being fired, getting stressed out etc.

How do you react if someone cuts you off in traffic? Do you lose your temper? Pound on the steering wheel? A friend of mine had the steering wheel fall off.

Do you curse? Does your blood pressure skyrocket? Do you try and bump them? WHO CARES if you arrive ten seconds later at work? Why let the cars ruin your drive? Remember the 90/10 principle, and do not worry about it.

You are told you lost your job. Why lose sleep and get irritated? It will work out. Use your worrying energy and time into finding another job. The plane is late; it is going to mangle your schedule for the day. Why take out your frustration on the flight attendant? She has no control over what is going on. Use your time to study, get to know the other passenger. Why get stressed out? It will just make things worse. Now you know the 90-10 principle. Apply it and you will be amazed at the results. You will lose nothing if you try it.

The 90-10 principle is incredible. Very few know and apply this principle. It CAN change your life!!!

- Steven Covey

BC & EC

As I was having doing my data simulation on private capital inflows yesterday, I got an email from a friend with a title/ subject of And the global economic has crashed….

The big blow in the stock market on previous Monday created Wall Street to a mess* and $700 billion bailout failed to pass in the Congress worsened the situation. And the market crashed…..

Three days ago an amateur Economists discussion was done in the class whether we will have another recession. Yup, the crisis may give impact to Malaysia's economy. It didn’t surprise me much as it is a normal business cycle. I remembered went to Prof J’s seminar class during my second degree ( Prof. J is a famous professor in Economics and now working with National University of Singapore). He told that the cycle pattern of the recession in Malaysia is about 10 to 12 years (1972/73, 1985, 1997/98). The last recession was in 1997/98 and now it is 2008. +- 10 years cycle is not a really important matter as it can be predictable but the cause and effect of the crisis will be much concern. Now we have to talk about a Global Crisis here. It was highlighted as worse as great depression in 1920. 1997/98 Asian Crisis seems to be a picnic compared to the current situation and it is said that even good companies will fail. Zero liquidity.

Everyone may caught up with the financial turmoil especially those with the international companies and wondering how its going to impact them. I hope none of us will badly affected with this. Personally, I just want the economy to be back to normal ( so that I can study in peace and my friends who study overseas won’t worry very much whether the government have enough money to pay for their scholarships) but that $700 billion bailout in US is also very big...

What you could do with $700,000,000,000 (This is taken from TIME magazine)

1. Give every person in the U.S $2300 or give every household $6200

2. Pay the income taxes of every American who makes $500,000 or less a year

3. Fully fund the Defense Treasury, Education, State veterans Affairs and interior department next year

4. Buy gasoline for every car in US for 16 months

5. Buy every NFL, NBA and Major league Baseball team and build each one a new stadium and pay your players $191 million a piece for a year

6. Create the 17^th largest economy in the world – roughly equal to that of the Netherlands

*BC - Business Cycle

EC - Economic crisis

Momentum & Procrastination

Maybe it's the ketupat and lemang (alasan!alasan!alasan!). After 3 weeks of putting aside my books and laptop, I don’t have enough momentum to start back doing my work (assignment and etc…). I am so darn lazy and become procrastinator to finish up my assignment and paper project. Looks like I will have another all-nighter then. Even worse I had to literally drag my feet to the class.
If laziness is a punishable crime under the law, then I’m totally a criminal and now I do feel like one coz I’m violating commitment towards my study.

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