Stop putting LABELS on things and people...

Recently, in the wake of the announcement of PSLE 2009 results, this label of "neighbourhood" schools has been appearing everyday in the media. Wow! It is the first time neighbourhood schools are producing top PSLE students as if these schools were condemned and destined not to perform.

It appears that it has become a social norm here to put labels on things and people. Such labels usually carry negative connotations. Who actually started this label called "neighbourhood" schools? What do you call the other schools then? Does it mean that students in neighbourhood schools are less smart? Is it the negative consequence of school ranking exercise?

Is there a neighbourhood ITE, junior college or polytechnic? Is there a neighbourhood university? By right, Singapore Management University (SMU) should be better and more prestigious than the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) because the former resides in the City area and the latter is located at the ulu (remote) end of Singapore.

If students in neighbourhood schools are deemed to be poorer and hence less smart than those in the elite schools, then does it also mean that the principals and teachers there are less qualified, less capable and lesser paid? If not, why keep stressing the significance of "neighbourhood"? I think it is time we wake up our ideas and stop putting such non-useful and negative labels on things and people around us. Schools are schools. All schools should be treated the same. In this respect, I think it is time to abolish the school ranking exercise which has been somewhat held as sacred for donkey years.

As I have said in my previous blog, try taking the last 10% of this year's PSLE cohort and put them in the prestigious Raffles Institution (RI) and watch the results four years later in the O-level examinations! By then, I think RI might become a "neighbourhood" school by this way of labelling!!!

Two ways to place your TRUST...

"There are two ways to place your trust: 1. I won't trust you until you prove that you can be trusted, or 2. I will trust you until you misplace my trust." ... Jonathan Ooi

The first approach is usually used by someone who is paranoid and does not have very positive impression of others. In this case, trust has to be earned gradually over time by the other party. Life becomes more serious, regimental and even rigid. There is less joy and fun in this kind of relationship. People will work to the punctuation of the guidelines in the employment contract. Such working environment does not encourage motivation.

The second approach adopts a more positive view of people and more trusting attitude towards others. This will create more joy and fun in the relationships. People feel more at ease. But, it is easily subject to abuse and exploitation. But, once the trust is being misplaced, that is the end of the relationship. When this happens, it can be devastating if the loss through the distrustful act is huge in magnitude.

Whichever approach you take depends on your personality and the kind of people you are dealing with. You have to exercise your own discretion. There is no right or wrong.

The HEART of the PARENTS...

A friend's son who has been spending most of his waking hours out of home and on all kinds of activities except studies, surprisingly passed his PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination). It was certainly a great relief to the parents. Was it by chance or by his intelligence that he passed his PSLE? Only God knows! All I know is he has given lots of headaches and heartaches to his family all these years, got himself involved in all kinds of accidents and incidents that were nerve-wrecking at times. Obviously, by chance or by sheer intelligence, he has been given a chance and is now promoted to secondary school. I just hope that he would appreciate the chance given, learn to focus more on his studies from now on and be a better person. I hope he would also learn to appreciate his family more by not giving his parents so many heart-wrenching moments. My best wishes to him...

I recently spoke to a taxi driver who treasures his family life more than just making more money, and hence he chooses to spend his evenings at home with his children, instead of plying on the road. There is a price to pay in making such a decision and it involves sacrificing some incomes. But, if he does not pay this price, he might end up paying a higher price when the children go astray. There is no right or wrong as far as his decision is concerned. But, I feel that he has made a good choice. Indeed, a good father he is!

You choose your own life and your own future...

Bruce Lee was my childhood hero. I don't watch many movies, out of those few I watched, three of them were Bruce Lee's, namely The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and Way of The Dragon.

During my growing up years, gangsterism and fightings were the hobbies of teenagers and youth in my little hometown that was a fishing village, but I have never got involved in any fight in my life. Many of those around me those days were drug addicts and smokers, but I have never smoked a single stick of cigarette in my life. Your friends might tease you and say, "Come on! Take a puff. It is fun!", and if you don't, they will say, "You chicken!". Do you know that "it is better to be a chicken than a dead duck!"? Someone ever told me this!

I am sharing my personal experience with great humility, illustrating one principle in life, which I always share with the young: You choose your own life and your own future. You need not do what others do. Your future is in your own hands, not in those of others.

Uses of Baking Soda besides baking...

Do you know the many uses of Baking Soda besides baking? Click on the images to read more...

THREE ways to deal with problems...

"When you are faced with a mountain (problem) in your life journey, you could get over it by levelling (solving) it, surmounting (overcoming) it or bypassing (avoiding) it." ... Jonathan Ooi

Note: These quotes are original and copyrighted by Jonathan Ooi. However, do feel free to use them as long as credit is given to the author at the end of every quote.

Be thankful for EVERYTHING - good or bad!

"A person who is emotionally and spiritually matured is thankful not just for the good happenings (or blessings) but mishaps as well because mishaps are usually blessings in disguise." ... Jonathan Ooi

Note: These quotes are original and copyrighted by Jonathan Ooi. However, do feel free to use them as long as credit is given to the author at the end of every quote.

Would you like to rewrite this notice with better English?

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

This is a notice put up at a local coffee shop. Do you find anything wrong with the English used, may be if you could read Chinese, what about the Chinese statement? There is obviously room for improvement as far as the standard of English and Chinese Language is concerned.

Do post your comments here if you have your idea of making it better.

So what if you went to the university?

"Going to and through the UNIversity does not guarantee you success in handling DIversity and ADversity in life; you need FLEXIBILITY and VERSATILITY of mind." ... Jonathan Ooi

Life is full of diversed and adverded situations that catch many people, even the intellectual, so unprepared and defenceless. Going to and through the university, to many people, is just a socially-recognised and professionally-required path of getting that scroll that could land you on a good-paying job hopefully if the world economy is in order.

Life skills required to cope with life's diversity and adversity will be left to each individual to seek out and sort out on their own. That is where it starts to draw on the resilience, flexibility and versatility of the mind that was supposed to be trained but usually not. That is why many highly-educated people suffer from the same mental stress and depression as those who are not so highly-educated so to speak.

That is the reason why I always say, what you study in the university is not so important, what is important is whether you used your brain and train your mind while you were studying in the university, and in fact, it is not so much about studying the subjects per se but learning the skills to cope with life.

How to deal with FEAR?

We are faced with FEAR in many life situations everyday so much so that we become conditioned in our mind to believe that that is the way life should be. We always live in fear. We fear examinations, we fear failure, we fear losing our job, we fear losing our investments, we fear contracting a dread disease, we fear accidents, we fear not having enough money etc.

Are we going to, therefore, live in fear for the rest of our lives? We have to have a way to overcome it.

"To overcome FEAR, turn FEAR into a positive F.E.A.R - Full Energy And Resolve." ... Jonathan Ooi

FEAR is like STRESS, if it does not bring you down, it will bring you up to greater heights of success!

Therefore, learn to take it head on, turn and twist it into positive driving force and energy and have a strong resolve and determination to follow through the process to produce the outcome or results you desire.

In other words, make FEAR work for you and to your advantage.

Latest quotes by Jonathan Ooi ... for reflection!

1. "We forget what we want to remember, but remember what we want to forget."
2. "All of us are capable of doing positive things, but we are equally capable of not finding the will to do them."
3. "Many forms of illnesses or discomfort are more psychological than physiological in nature. It is usually the mind that makes one feel sick."
4. "Do it right the first time for sometimes we might not be given a second chance."
5. "Firm and stubborn are two sides of the same person depending on which angle you look at it from. When you insist on your belief, you think you are firm, but others think you are stubborn."
6. "Impatience is both a weakness and a strength. It can be annoying to others. but it helps get things done quickly."

Note: These quotes are original and copyrighted by Jonathan Ooi. However, do feel free to use them as long as credit is given to the author at the end of every quote.

We can't CTRL-ALT-DEL our life too many times!

"If we can't CTRL our mind well, we will tend to ALT between choices in life; if we are not careful, we might DEL the good choices, and when that happens, we have to RESTART all over again! So, learn to control our mind to make good choices in life so that we don't have to restart our life too many times for sometimes there might not be a second chance!" ... Jonathan Ooi

The one-and-only-one postage stamps in the world...

I am absolutely sure no stamp collectors in the world have these two stamps in their album.

New information display at the bus stops...

This is the new information display at the bus stops in Singapore. The number at the top, in this case "63279" is the bus stop number. You can use this information in conjunction with the TransitLink Bus Guide or the TransitLink website to plan your journey.

Incredibly amazing natural cleaning solution for tubs and tiles...

My wife and I were totally amazed when we first used Tub & Tile to clean our toilet basin. It just turned sparkling clean and bright.

Tub & Tile is a powerful natural cleaning solution made from biodegradable formula that contains naturally-derived cleaners. It is environmentally-friendly and does not contain phosphates, ammonia or bleach.

It comes in a concentrated form and one such bottle can be diluted into four 710ml spray bottles. Let me know if you are interested to get it.

The harder you work, the luckier you are...

There are many people who believe in luck. Is there really such a thing called luck or is it a layman's term that means probability and chances. If we toss a coin, we have 50% chance of getting a head or a tail. That is 50% luck! If you try shoplifting often enough, it is a matter of time you would be caught. So, when one is caught, that is attributed to back luck!?

If a student thinks he is lucky to have passed his examinations, then I want to suggest to him that in order to increase his luck and be luckier the next time round, all he needs to do is to study harder. The harder he studies, the luckier he is.

A salesman who sits in his office instead of going out to the field to do his prospecting activity to find new customers would blame his poor sales performance on the lack of luck. Isn't it true that if he works harder outside, he would become luckier, and his sales performance would improve?

So, in an equation form, luck = opportunity + consistent hard work. When the opportunities are there, if we work hard and seize the opportunity, we get results. That's perhaps what most people call luck. Those who are so-called lucky are those who work hard and consistently hard.

Therefore, the next time when you want to have better luck, just work consistently harder and smarter. If you want to be lucky enough to get promoted at work, just work consistently harder and smarter. I assure you lady luck will come to you.

Be considerate!

The need for the above sign shows that there are some dog owners who are not considerate. Being considerate promotes good neighbourliness and friendliness not just in the park, but in the train, buses and many public places.

It is not just about dogs not being leashed or their poos not picked up, but it includes speaking loudly on mobile phones in crowded places like in the bus or on the train, the irritating noise emitted from the earpieces where the volume was turned to maximum when listening to MP3 songs, littering and throwing things down from high floors in HDB flats and habitually slamming the house door forcefully upon returning home from a bad day at work. Examples are numerous.

I think it would be good for us to reflect for ourselves if we do consciously or unconsciously exhibit some of these behaviours which make our neighbours or people around us feel very unpleasant and miserable. The way to be considerate is to put ourselves in others' shoes and think!!!

"It is a joy to give, but a greater joy to forgive." ... Jonathan Ooi

While we always hear of "give and take", I think most people take more than they give. If we have the means and ability, it is more blessed to give than to take. It is in giving and helping others that we find joy in our lives.

I observe that there are people who like to fight for their rights over trivial matters and hold grudges against others, that grow into resentment and hatred. They find it so hard to forgive others.

Actually, not being able to forgive others makes one always live miserably in the past, and not able to move forward. Thus, it is good to learn to forgive others. In fact, we could experience the great joy of breaking from the bondage of unforgiveness by simply forgiving others.

Let's learn to give and forgive and in so doing, we will live a joyful and happy life everyday.

A unique plant in Punggol Park...

I discovered this very unique plant in Punggol Park. Do you know the name of the plant?

Some of my recent quotes... for reflection!

• "In life and in business, sometimes, it is not what you know, but who you know, that makes all the difference in your results!"
• "What a person is is usually determined by what he says and what he does."
• "If we live life the right way, it becomes lively; but, if we live it the reversed way, it becomes evil. EVIL is LIVE spelt backward."
• "Every success or failure comes at a price; but, gaining experience from it is priceless."
• "While we would expect return on investment, but we should not expect return on charity."

Note: These quotes are original and copyrighted by Jonathan Ooi. However, do feel free to use them as long as credit is given to the author at the end of every quote.

Three children with good upbringing...

I had the privilege of talking with a mother who was a good motivator to her own three teenaged children whose first names are all five-lettered words starting with "Ha", so when the first two letters of their names are put together, they become Ha-Ha-Ha. It is my fervent wish that this family would always be filled with laughters.

I could sense the joy and harmony in the family as I was speaking to the mother who later invited all the three children to join in the motivational discussion. The three children were very respectful, well-behaved and were doing their own things when I called at their place. The eldest would be taking his last paper for his O-level examinations tomorrow. After some simple encouragement, he decided to change his mindset and aim to score a distinction for it.

I believe all the three children would be able to do very well in their studies as long as they have the positive mindset and attitude and develope strong discipline in their daily lives. The mother was apparently very proud of her three children. I think the three children owe much to their mother's commitment in taking care of their daily well-being and providing them with lots of moral support for their character-building.

In this context, I think parents play a pivotal role in the upbringing of their children in terms of character-building and moral education. Schools should play a supportive role in reinforcing those values while performing their primary functions of teaching academic subjects.

Issues with setting deadlines...

Late delivery is a problem commonly faced in most manufacturing and logistical operations. There are many reasons that account for late deliveries. One of the most common ones is that the delivery deadline promised and set was unrealistic.

This happens usually when salespeople go out to the customers and in order to clinch the deal or project, sometimes, they promise heaven and earth, including delivery within a short lead time! But, when the deal is sealed, the entire planning and operational process starts and every nitty-gritty issue begins to surface along the process chain, such as inventory shortage, manpower shortage, new process design, machine capacity problem etc.

There is an inherent behaviour when it comes to deadline setting. When we set deadlines for others, we tend to set very stringent, tight and unrealistic deadlines; but, when we set deadlines for ourselves, we tend to be more lenient and kind, and tend to build in buffer for ourselves. This is another practice of double-standards in life.

Benefits of Ispaghula Husk - Soluble and Insoluble Fibre

To buy, go HERE.

Don't lose that personal touch!

A family of five was travelling on the bus seated close to each other and all their ears were plugged with their earpiece listening to their own MP3 songs, and I am sure they were all listening to songs of their respective age group, the parents would most likely prefer their oldies while the children must be going for the latest hits in town. As they were plugged with the earpieces, obviously there was hardly any conversation between them.

This goes to show one thing: while we are so digitally-connected, we might not be so emotionally-connected nowadays. Recently, I commended someone on Facebook, who has many friends in her network, but she told me that they are just net friends, not real friends. It seems that many of these friends are so-called digital friends, but not friends who share the real emotions. People generally still prefer high-touch to high-tech.

Therefore, no matter how advanced we are in terms of technological development, don't forget that we are all still humans who need personal touch. While everyone is sending an e-greeting card, your hard-copy greeting card that comes in the letter box with the postal mark could be a high-touch surprise and it would be very special to the person who receives it.

Have we really tapped the full power of IT and Internet?

Despite the fact that Singapore is one of the best-wired nations in the world, i think the power of personal computers and internet still has not been fully tapped.

Generally, most offices still handle lots of paper documents while there are already soft copies stored in the hard-disks and backed up in various data storage media. Utilities and telecommunications companies still send out millions of bills every month when many families already have at least an email account where they can just email a soft copy of the monthly bills. Customers can be given an option to choose a soft or hard copy of the bill. The cost savings which is rather substantial considering the gigantic customer base, can be ploughed back to the consumers in return, perhaps by giving a 5% rebate or some other forms of tangible benefits. With this, it also makes the environment greener.

Secondly, people are still not too comfortable performing transactions especially financial ones, over the internet where internet insecurity is something most people fear. It probably will take the next generation to be more IT-savvy and IT-integrated, where online shopping even for groceries would be a norm in future, especially when most young professionals would spend a big chunk of their waking hours in front of the computer screen.

Don't let our passion become a perversion!

"While developing a passion, one learns to persevere. The peseverance gradually develops into persistence. However, if left unchecked, persistence could end up as perversion."

Some of us do get carried away when it comes to saying something or doing a cause that we are strongly convicted to or are very passionate about; we eat our passion, we drink our passion and we breathe our passion 24/7. With this, I mean the passion gets entrenched into our lives inseparable.

That usually begins well. But, as we begin to connect with others around us, we tend to want to pass it on very eagerly, the eagerness could become rather annoying and irritating. Once it is left unchecked, we might be perceived even as perverts who have distorted and perverted the original intent into something that people detest to even hear about or talk about.

Choices are a dynamic thing!

We are all given the free will to make choices on many things in our lives, ranging from what to wear, what to eat, what car to drive, what house to stay, who to marry, what career to choose, how to make money etc. Not everyone would go for the same choices. To each his own, depending on each individual's family, education, religious backgrounds etc.

Whatever the choices we make, the results would follow. At a certain point in time or a certain stage in our lives, we make a certain choice which at that time was the best, but as time passes by, when we gain more experience and receive more information and insight, we might begin to regret over the choice we once made. This is rather normal. The word "Best" as in choices is not absolute, it is a dynamic adjective. What was best previously might not appear so now. That is why we are constantly experiencing the feeling of regret over choices we made in the past.

Do you recall this? When we eat at food courts or restaurants, after we finish our meal and look across the next table, we always feel that we should have ordered the other dishes. That happens all the time in many aspects of our lives. But, not all choices can be changed as and when we like it, some come with long-term commitment such as choosing a life partner for marriage. So, learn to make smart choices in life!

Cappucino Cream Wafers made in Indonesia!

It is available at FairPrice supermarkets at around S$3. The one with Cappucino flavour tastes yummy!

Jambu Fruit Dove ...

The Jambu fruit dove is a forest dove that inhabits the second growth forests of mangrove swamps and rainforests on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and western Java, Thailand and Malaysia. They are easily recognised in the forest by their soft cooing.

To read more, click HERE.

Be more objective in a world of subjectivity!

It is rather natural for most of us as we build up our experiences over the years, to tend to take our understanding, viewpoints, opinions, perceptions and thinking as the absolute truth at times, and that is when we begin to lose objectivity as we look at things and issues in life in a world that is full of subjectivity.

It is hard for many to remain objective, and even harder for those who are in a certain higher leadership position to do so. The leaders as they attain a certain achievement and hierachical position begins to forget what it takes for them to get there and they would generally over-simplify the process and the journey of getting there, thinking that everyone else is able to do and achieve what they did.

While they mean well in trying to motivate and encourage the team members to do what they have done, but they tend to forget that there is no one-size-fits-all kind of methodology, technique or approach. We might be encouraged by the success of certain leaders and hence we might be able to emulate the positive and desirable attitudes and behaviours of such leaders at best, but it is impossible for us to clone and duplicate the leadership style and personality.

Some of my most recent quotes... for reflection

Some of my recent quotes...

1. "A day passed without much done, learned and achieved is a day wasted in life."
2. "Get the facts and figures right before coming to any conclusion on anything, and you will be right."
3. "When you do things differently from how most others do, you make a difference!"
4. "It helps to stress the importance of studies, but it does not help to stress the students!"
5. "A person who is self-centred and self-righteous usually finds it hard to forgive someone and even harder to say sorry to someone."
6. "Good and positive things are hard to come by even by working hard; bad and negative things always slip into our lives so easily, uninvited and unexpected."
7. "Everything that happens in life happens with a purpose. So, understand the purpose, learn the lessons and move on to greater heights."

Note: These quotes are original and copyrighted by Jonathan Ooi. However, do feel free to use them as long as credit is given to the author at the end of every quote.

The social status of certain occupations needs to be upgraded!

I always hear people say things like, "I am just a housewife", "I am only a cleaner", "I am only a taxi driver" etc. Recently, a lady told me, "I am just a secretary!". I said to her, "Wow! You help your boss to be a boss!". Upon hearing this, she was so delighted and immediately felt so proud of what she was doing, and she said, "Yes, I will remember that!".

How most people look at themselves is built on what the society as a whole perceive them to be. There are occupations that are not accorded the rightful status in the society because they are usually judged on certain traditional views and perceptions typically based on educational background. I think housewives should view themselves as "Minister of Home Affairs". The name itself could provide tremendous encouragement and motivation. Over the years, many names have been changed to give more recognition to such occupations, for example, clerks are now called administrative assistant, bus drivers Bus Captain now.

Each of those few occupations mentioned in the first sentence is as noble and honourable as any other professions such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers etc. Many of these successful professionals were brought up by their parents or grandparents who might be taxi drivers, housewives, cleaners, secretary etc. and might not even have completed their primary school education. We should salute such great parents though they might feel lowly for who they are.

I think it is not for these people who are humbly serving their family and the community to come forward and ask for recognition; instead the society as a whole and those being served should be more forthcoming in giving recognition, appreciation and gratitude to those who have helped them in their growing-up years and their daily lives. As a whole, I think there is a need to upgrade the status of some of the occupations that have been viewed very lowly in the past.