Business and Money Tips

The following story is excerpted from TIME's special edition, The Science of Happiness. Whether you’re a web designer, teacher, firefighter or Army officer, you are encouraged to keep checking things off the to-do list, amassing accomplishments and focusing your efforts on the future. There’s always something more you can do to further yourself at work: an extra project or responsibility you can take on, more schooling you can complete to ensure a promotion, or an additional investment to wager on just in case. There’s always that co-worker who is putting in longer hours, showing you that you too can and should do more. And so you strive nonstop to exceed your goals, constantly playing catch-up with your ambitious to-do list. Why? Because you live by the faulty theory that if you want to succeed, you need to continually be getting things done and moving on to the next goal as quickly as possible. Your mind is always on the next task, the next accomplishment, the next person you n...

Are you happy now?  As a full-time Coach and Trainer since 2001, I have come across many people who are not happy because they told me that they are not getting anywhere in their career and life. On the other hand, I too met a few businesspeople who earn more than a million dollars a year complaining to me that they envy other people’s happiness. Jack Ma, one of the richest Chinese in the world that founded and owned Alibaba, revealed in public videos that he is pretty unhappy now and was the happiest when he was struggling in building up his business. So it seems that wealthy people are just as unhappy as people without money. This may come as a comfort for poor people, but it nevertheless stop them  from becoming rich. This is because if happiness is our reason to be rich, if you now know that being rich does not bring you happiness, why would you want to be rich?  That’s why I think it is of utmost importance that people do not get any idea that happiness has go...

Since we spend over two-thirds of our waking hours working and living around work, it is more important to be happy at work than happy after work.  Although many consider work to be a necessary evil, work is actually a necessary happiness, only if you know how to be happy at work. The 7 most Frequently Asked Questions on  how to be happy at work: 1.  Will higher salary make one happier at work? Unless you are trying to make ends meet, money will not be a great motivator. Once you have enough to live a life that you are used to, unless you have some new expenditure, more money will give you a disproportionate amount of happiness.  For example, if you get at 10% salary raise, you will be happier by less than 10%. 2. Does Achieving Progress at Work Make Me Happier? Definitely.  Achievement is a sense of self-worth and all progress, no matter how small, will make your work happier.  Note that the same principle for money applies: once you ac...

Either you fire them up you'll have to fire them is at here My background in retail sales since the tender age of 5 has taught me one important lesson: never take anything for granted.   Never believe anything at first instance, not even your own percep tion. Whether you're dealing with staff, candidates, voters, suppliers, contractors, customers, children or bosses, the first step to getting anything done is to understand your customer .  Customer here refers to people you're serving now, which could anyone of the preceding statement.   To understand your customer, you must open your mind fully to what he says and how he says it .  To do this, you must go beyond your own experience, knowledge and skills.  You must get confused.  When you are confused, you will seek clarification, and you will ask questions.  Like, "What does that mean?  Why is he doing that?  What's going on?"  That's confusion! Confusion is a state of learni...

Yesterday's article on Planting Seeds of Happiness  in 7 easy ways drew one comment asking me to elaborate how to do that in the office. As we know, the office is one place where we spend more time than anywhere in this world.  Smart bosses often equate happiness at work as the ingredient to high productivity, the other 2 ingredients being management system and management sty le.  The 7 ways that you too can plant the seeds of happiness in the office everyday: Know Your Value in the Office for the Day - yes, some days people feel that they are just messengers but the moment you realize your value in the office, you'll start to feel you are doing something good. Such good feelings give you instant happiness Validate and Appreciate your colleagues for what they do for you .  Before going back, ask your boss this question, "Can I ask you a question before you leave?"  The boss will of course say, "Sure".  "Is there one or 2 things that I can do tom...

This article appeared in The Straits Times on 28 August 2015 Friday Page C32. For article on "Plant Seeds of Happiness in the Office", click here If you plant seeds of happiness, flowers of happiness will bloom.    Everyone wants to be happy, yet often we have very little idea of what brings about genuine happiness.  It's obvious that material comforts will only bring us momentary happiness, as the moment you have something good, you start to want more and better and diminish your own happiness.  In fact clinging on to material comforts only leads to suffering.  No one wants to suffer, but do we know how to give up those actions that cause suffering? True happiness is an inside thing, it is your inner feeling of bliss and joy.  There is no clinging, no craving, only pure enjoyment.   What is planting a seed?  It's the simple act of setting something into motion that will help you create the life you want.  It's taking a moment of ...

Everyone wants to be happy, for this is what life is about.  We also know that we need to be happy to be successful and not wait for success to bring us happiness.  Some people think that money will bring us happiness, whereas others believe that love makes us truly happy.  There are those that, like Will Smith in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, believes that it is the pursuit of happiness, and not the happiness itself, that will make us happy.  In other words, happiness is a journey, not a destination .   In our trainings, we impart to our participants 3 things that will bring us happiness.  These 3 characteristics of life are interlinked, and you need to see them in totality: 1.   Realizing that Nothing in this world is permanent, and everything is in a flux and subject to constant change All things are impermanent, and everything is in the process of changing into something else.   The entire universe and the cosmos are in const...

Once there were 5 children sitting in front of a deity; they took turns to say their new year wishes.  The first child wished to have an entire house of candies, and the deity readily granted him this wish.  The second child was cleverer, he wished to own the McDonald's company, so that he can have as many fast food as he wishes.  This wish too was granted. The third child was even smarter. He wished to have all of the wishes of the children in the room.  Surprisingly, this wish too was granted. Now the fourth child said the ultimate wish: he wished to have any wishes he can have in this world.  Isn't this the wish-all wish?  To his astonishment, the deity granted this child his wish. Now come to the fifth and last child, and he paused for a while and said, "I wish to have no more wishes, because if I had ever lasting happiness and contentment, there is no need to wish for anything because life is complete and perfect". My friends, isn't this the be...

I am always amazed that even in 2014, there are some people who still manage people like in the past. The following are the Top 5 Most Common Myths and Truths of People Management: Myth 1: You need money to motivate people Truth: Accomplishment itself is a bigger motivator , and if you use money alone, you’ll get greedy people! Look at those people cheat at mega banks and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Myth 2: You must push people to achieve Your Company's Goals  Truth: People are pushed by their own commitment than your goals. If their commitment is aligned with your goals, your goal setting will work. Otherwise, it will simply not work. Myth 3: People need to be managed and controlled  Truth: You only can manage space, time and resources. You don’t manage people, you lead people. Myth 4: Increasing sales and profits are clear goals that everyone can relate to Truth: People relate more to something bigger that matters and make a difference , like being able t...

A myth is something that we think is true because most people believe or wish that it is true. In reality a myth is just a lie .  There is a market for myths because people like to have a better world. The following are the 7 Most Common Myths in Life:  Newspaper is about history and not about news at all .  A news is something that is very new and has not been over yet. So all newspapers should be renamed Historypapers because they report what has happened in the past. In fact they are not history but distorted history, for they reflect the views of the people controlling the media.  In Singapore, there is this free newspaper called "TODAY", and this 'newspaper' is definitely not about today and should be renamed 'YESTERDAY'.  On the other hand, what you do now is news because you are in the creation process of creating something new.   Your Bank Savings Account is Actually a Depleting Savings Account .  This is because the very low interest that...

It pains me to see some people that are so talented and yet they did not achieve much.  In fact they have what we called 7 Fetters of Highly Effective People.  Face the fetters and take action today to remove them and you will be on a different path.  The 7 Fetters are: Having No Goals.  Alas, this is so old-fashioned but really if you have no goals, you will just be living your life on a roller coaster - many ups and downs but you end up where you begin - no improvement at all.   Having Too 'Ambitious' (Unrealistic) Goals.  This is the opposite of Having No Goals, but is more than that. These people are unrealistic, they are going for the moon when right now they can't even swim in the Pacific Ocean. Such people are not grounded, they live in dreams and often they are impractical. Having No Friends.  No man can succeed alone and friends can be a great leverage at the right time. Some people said that it is better to have a few enemies but man...

The desire to be happy is what drives us to whatever we do.  In fact, humans spend so much time in their waking moments everyday to be happy that makes us forget what are the things that make us happy.  For example, many people equate money to be happiness, when in fact money only makes us comfortable and not happy .  From coaching and training over 81,131 people in 12 countries since 1996, the following are the 5 conditions that make us happy: 1.  Hope for a better tomorrow Despite the generally accepted notion that the fulfilment of a wish brings happiness, I believe that a person who has hope can taste happiness before that hope becomes a reality.  For better or worse, the human being is always discontent with present reality.  It's okay to be discontented as long as you direct that discontentment into new hopes on a higher plane.  For example, if I am not happy with my Samsung Galaxy S4, I can direct my efforts to earning more money so that I...