Clutter free life

One of the main reasons of stress is the distractions you get in life. It throws you off balance because it is something different to what you are used to and it interrupts the flow.

Sometimes it is just very small things that can become major distractions. For instance, a messy desk.

One day, you might be given a sudden invitation to lunch with a colleague whom you wanted to catch up with for a long time. You were unprepared, so you started scrambling to get everything ready to go to lunch.

If you had a messy desk, you would start to stress out when you do not know where you keep your phone, your wallet and all the things you wanted to bring with you to lunch. Paired with the time constraint of making your colleague wait, you become more stressed out.

So the lesson of this story is to keep your work space clean and tidy. That also applies at home. By doing so, you will have 1 less thing to worry about in your daily life or when you are expected to drop everything and do something else.

Lean thinking example

Over in Telstra, I have learnt a lot. Being Australia's top telecommunications company and one of the top 10 companies in the ASX, it has a lot of good points to learn off.

However, like any big companies, there is a lot of fat in the company. Inefficiencies due to doubling up on work is just one of it.

In my department, I work across a few delivery centres. Sometimes, there are processes that are doubled up because the centres perform the same role without knowing what the other does.

To apply lean thinking, I first understand the processes of the two delivery centres. By knowing what they do in detail, I would be able to identify whether it is possible to merge the processes together and let it be performed in 1 delivery centre. By doing so, there are cost savings as the other team are freed up of the work and are able to perform a new process.

If this lean thinking methodology is applied enough, companies of any size will become competitive as there are no waste. The aim is to reduce waste to zero.

Happy implementing!

Distraction at work

Most people in a corporate job becomes a tool to their emails rather than it being the other way around.

The reason for this is because they constantly check emails and are on it for most of their working hours.

What it actually does is make someone seem to be busy and productive when it actual fact, for most people, this ist unproductive and distracting from the important tasks at hand.

One of the strategies to manage this distraction is to have a few set times where one checks their emails.

Happy implementing!

Kaizen

Kaizen is continuous improvement through elimination of waste. 

Plans

Failing to plan is planning to fail. This sentence holds through for most people. So remember that is good to plan. For instance, someone who has a plan for the day at least can follow the plan for the day and not worry about planning or getting bored. Perhaps it is good to start planning if you are one who hasn't already started doing so. :)

Business idea : Education

How you ever wondered what the best way to perform a certain task is? I believe this happens to everyone ever so often. And the manuals that we are given are just information overload. 

So the way to resolve this issue is to learn off people who has figured out a way to simplify the process. And that is where an education-based business comes into play.

There is a few things that you would need to get it started :

1) A location to hold your classes

2) Material needed to teach the subject matter

3) Practice and industry application of the subject matter

An example would be a yoga class. Some yoga classes would go for $20 per class of 1.5 hours. With a booking of let's say $100, you would just need 5 people to cover your cost. You then implement a yoga type, for instance Bikram Yoga that has over 20 different poses to perform. When the classes get big enough to be about 20 people, you are making a profit of $300 for each class.

The hardest part of this is to build reputation/brand name for yourself but once it is established, the money starts flowing in.

Book review: Bringing Home The Birkin

This book is the biography of Michael Tonello, a Birkin reseller that made lots of money by beating Hermes at its own game. It is a really good read packed with humour and vivid descriptions of the experiences he went through.

It entails how Michael got bored of the usual stuff he was doing as a hair stylist and took the chance to relocate to Barcelona, a place he fell in love with till this day. With meticulous details of how the story unfold, this book is cleverly written.

Look out for his perspective to life, which I find interesting, and also the way he packed details such as pictures and sketches to make it a great read.

Success story : Jeremy Lin

It is interesting to watch the NY Knicks games now with Jeremy Lin playing in it. His calm composure paired with the great variation in shots makes it very interesting. In time, if all goes well, I believe he will make the hall of fame for his remarkable talent.

What makes him so successful is his perseverance and passion for the sport. He has met many setbacks but took it in stride. With such admirable mental strength and patience, it is a recipe for success.

Fun facts:
He is a Harvard graduate(making him one of the smartest players)
He was undrafted
He is born in the year of the dragon(this year being 24)

Point of view : China's ruling government

Recently I had the chance to catch an interview between a British interviewer and some chinese citizens in Beijing. The interviewer asked whether they wanted change to their government. The response was that the government has done a lot of good things for its citizens. I would agree with them as it is pretty evident that chinese people's quality of life is constantly improving since they open their doors to the world.

I believe the interviewer should look at his own country and notice that as long as any government has done more right than wrong, it means that the government is doing right by the people.

Facebook's IPO

The IPO for Facebook is expected to happen this year. It would be a very interesting event as it is set to make thousands of employees millionaires. Also, being in interesting times, it is hard to predict how the market will react to this offering.

There is a claim that it would offer at $100 billion, however, if it is based on the revenue, I believe it would be a figure much less than that. This is because it has a revenue of approximately $4 billion for 2011. Google, on the other hand, had $30 over billion in revenue for 2011 and has a market capitalization of approximately $180 billion. Either there were misreporting or Facebook has an over-inflated price per share.

Business ideas : Old phones

What happens to the old phones that you dump to the phone recycling companies? They get tested and if they are still in working conditions, they are given minor upgrades like a new case and upgraded software and sold off to the developing nations.

So if you have some capital and want to start it up, go do some research and put it to test. It could be successful and probably good for the environment for there is no wastage.

SOPA : Good or Bad?

SOPA or Stop Online Piracy Act is a bill proposed in the US. This bill seems to want to fight online trafficking of copyrighted intellectual property.

The perceived benefit is to the holder of the rights to the intellectual property for other people cannot take their assets and use them for their own benefits. However, with such a major bill, other impacts has to be taken into consideration. Would others be disadvantaged by its restrictions and cause major costs for the online companies to be passed on to the consumers? Maybe it might be the case. 

Overall, I believe that SOPA is not the way to go about the issue. It is almost like having a closed door policy and make the country lose its competitive edge.

Obstacle : Of Rumours and Gossips

When you hear a rumour or gossip, there is only 2 ways you should go about it in order to benefit yourself.

1) Investigate the rumour and see whether it is really something that you have to worry about and steps to   take to benefit/ prevent it
2) Just ignore it for it is going to be something untrue or insignificant anyway.

It is through rumours and following blindly or building on it that people can get hurt or some things precious to them.

Strategy : How to boost your asset holdings

Recently Nomura had a poll and it states that gold is investors' favourite asset for 2012. Does it make sense? I do not think so as the year has just begun. How are you going to make such a statement when 11 out of 365 has just passed?

Anyway I believe it would do Nomura good as the have a holdings in SPDR Gold Trust of 1.54% (their holdings as of Q3 2011) of their total portfolio. With such a poll result (which might have been manipulated), they are bound to get some investors to buy it and when enough paper profit is realised, they will take profit by selling.

Smart strategy indeed.

$50billion credit card debt

Looks like Australians are owing a lot on their credit cards, standing at $50billion, it is averaging $3,000 per card. It seems that if people are not careful, they are giving free money away to the banks.

Customer service

It is very important to have excellent customer service. It is like doing business with a friend and with such a relationship, things will go well and even if it is not, your customer would be willing to give feedback for you would listen.

Mindset : Sustainability

It is important to emphasize on sustainability. It is an important aspect in life. When a business is sustainable, it can provide passive income.

Some key points to look out for are as follows:
1) Are the products just a fad or is it something that can be used throughout your life for centuries to come
2) Is the product environmentally and financially viable - the former being an emphasis in recent times.
3) What is the general publics view on the business and its products

When it is all met, one can carry forward and look for the best sources possible to start on a new venture.

Property : Body Corp fee

To those deciding to invest in apartments, it is best to look at the body corporation fees before purchasing. It can come to thousands of dollars which can cause some financial distress to the investors.

Strategy : How to be rich

The easiest way to be rich is Income > Expenditure. This applies to everyone from those who are earning $1 million a year to those earning $1,000 a year. So remember that if you are not following this formula,
you are not in a sustainable position.

It may sound easy but you have to learn how to control temptation and save up a small nest egg for unexpected events.

2012

Looks like it is going to be a rough year ahead. So sit back and enjoy the ride. It would be a good time to revise your position in any risky assets.