i for ICT and IPPT

Just took a peek at my In-Camp-Training schedule next week. Just like what Ed said, it is almost like a chalet camp! Minus the fun of course. Ha.

It's not that bad lah, from the looks of it, it seems that there will be plenty of lectures and that means some quality time at the air-conditioned auditorium. Ha.

Unfortunately, there will be a 2.5 days outfield exercise in week 2 and of course, every NS man favorite nightmare. The IPPT. Ha.

I think they are trying to reward those who have been keeping themselves fit all this while because those people who clear their IPPT on Thursday will not need to book in to camp on Saturday and at the same time can end their ICT one day earlier!

Darn! If only I knew... I would have stayed clear of those late night chicken chop and cheese baked rice at Xing Wang! Ha. Ed and me are almost certain that we will be joining the extra-training club. :P

Looking on the bright side, I think it's still quite okay; I think Uncle Siu can still make it back alive after the 10 days ICT. Ha.

Moving on, a few days back, someone asked me whether I believed in destiny. If that person has asked me the question a few years back, I would have readily said yes. I would have told her that, "Yup, I think I was born to lead the greatest loser club of all time, Losers.com to greater heights." Ha. (See Losers Era - siukai 3:16)

Ask me that question now and I will tell you, "No. I don't believe in destiny. I don't believe that all of us already have a path that the Almighty has set up for us. I believe that we create our own destiny. Simply put, we are the master of our ships, we are our own god and we create our own destiny.

There's this particular quote which I would like to share with you guys:

"Each day, life will send you little windows of opportunity. Your destiny will ultimately be defined by how you respond to these windows of opportunity. Shrink from them and your life will be small, feel the fear and run to them anyway, and you life will be big. Life's just too short to play little."

I believe that where we are now is based on the decisions we have made in the past and where we are heading will depend on the decisions we make in the future.

Like if you don't stop reading siukai's crap now and get your ass off the chair, you may not be in time to complete that last minute assignment. Ha. It is not your destiny that you will not finish the assignment on time, it is because of your choice to continue reading.

That's a wise decision of course. siukai's crap comes first. Assignments can wait. Ha.

The other time, I was talking about this method of taking one small step at a time in order to fulfill big goals. I mentioned that I would elaborate on that in another post and well, since I've got some spare time now, let me just give a mini siukai lecture. Ha.

This book which I read, "One Small Step Can Change Your Life - The Kaizen Way" mentioned that a long time ago when we were still cavemen, our minds were built in a simple way. Since we were not really at the top of our foodchain in those days, (There were the T-Rex and other dinosaurs that could devour us effortlessly, our mind was built for one thing only - and that was to survive.

Our mind was very sensitive to danger, that was why when we explored unfamiliar territories, our mind will warn us not to proceed further for the fact that there could be one hungry T-Rex just round the corner. Wandering from our comfort zone would trigger off a warning from our brain. That was how we made sure we survived longer than the dinosaurs.

A few million years later, things of course have changed dramatically. We are now at the top of our food chain and we won't hesitate to slay innocent sharks so that we can boil their fins to show off at wedding dinners (That is a topic for another day.) However, our danger warning part of our brain has not changed much over the years.

That is why when we want to try something unfamiliar or something that looks intimidating like public speaking, our warning system kicks in and gives us all those anxiety signs like profuse sweating, cold palms, rising temperature etc. Of course, no T-Rex is waiting to eat us alive but our brain do not know, it has been like this since millions of years ago. It just wants to warn us.

That is why most of us put off doing big tasks like maybe file our taxes, clearing the almost full cabinet of documents or even less intimidating one like going for a jog. The moment we think of such "big" tasks, our warning system kick in and it will try its best to prevent us from taking the "risk."

The brain thinks that it is helping us to survive but of course we know that filing our taxes or clearing our cabinet won't kill us unless you have a mountain of documents, then you run the risk of being buried alive.

So, based on the book, there is actually a way to avoid triggering the natural "defence" of the brain - that is to take one small step at a time. Because when the task seems small enough, the brain will not sense any "danger" and it will allow you to do it.

Let's take one example of going jogging, an activity that most people dread or put off even though they know that it is actually good for them. When you think about jogging what is the first thing you will think of?

You might imagine running under the hot sun, sweat trickling down from your face to your neck. Breathless, muscle cramps and aches all over your body. Wow, that seems like a torture! Ha.

So guess what your brain tries to do? It tries to prevent you from going jogging of course! But all is not lost! Help is at hand! Ha.

The Kaizen method is simple, you just take one small step at a time and repeat it until you feel comfortable to proceed to the next. So let's return to our jogging example. Let's say our first step is to wake up at 8.00am in the morning for a jog, but you normally wake up at 11am. You lazy pig! Ha.

So our first step can be to wake up five minutes earlier every day. That's not too hard isn't it? No objection from the brain.

Day one 10.55am. Day two 10.55am. Day three 10.50am. Day four 10.50am. You keep on doing this until you feel ready to move on to the next stage. Of course maybe instead of 5 minutes you can shave off 15 or 30 minutes at one time, as long as it is still within your comfort zone.

So, what happens next? Soon, you will find that you have no problem waking up at 8am every morning! Just take my case as an example, I used to sleep until like the late morning every day but for the past 1 month, I have been able to wake up at 8.30am almost every day, except on Sundays when I reward myself with an hour of additional sleep. :)

Now that you can wake up at 8am, what's the next step? Put on your jogging shoes! Putting on the jogging shoes is not that hard right? It's another small step. Then after that maybe you can just go for a 1 minute jog.

1 minute? siukai, are you kidding me? Ha. Nope, I'm not. Compare 1 minute to a 20 minutes jog, which one looks more appealing? If one minute still seems too long for you, try 30 seconds.

The science behind this method is that whenever you do something new, your brain starts to create new neurological paths. When you keep repeating the action/activity more paths are created and eventually they become very strong. Now you know why it is difficult to kick a bad habit?

So when you start to jog for 30 seconds for a few consecutive days, you do not raise any alarms in the brain defence system, therefore new paths are created. By the time these paths become stronger, 30 seconds will no longer be any kick to you. That's when you will feel comfortable enough to proceed to 45 seconds, a minute or longer. Jogging for 30 seconds become part of your comfort zone.

It may be a slow method but it will work. Taking 6 months to conditioned yourself to like to jog for 30 minutes everyday is definitely better than forcing yourself to jog for 2 consecutive weeks before succumbing to the old habit. Remember that a journey of a thousand miles always begin with a single step. It is a small step but it still has to be taken before there is a next.

Anyone interested to know more can pick up the book "One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way" by Robert Maurer at the nearest library or bookstore. Ha. Like book review like that.

I was doing this quiz I found on someone else's blog and the result is quite accurate, at least for my case. I seldom do or recommend quizzes here but since this particular one is rather short (9 questions), maybe you should give it a try too. :)


Here are my selected results:

Your view on yourself:

You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

siukai comments: Yup, I think this is quite true for me since I always believe there are two sides to a story.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.

siukai comments: Ha. This one is rather true too. I like independent and smart people, just like my patapon dar dar. :)

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship.

siukai comments: This one is a no-brainer. I have to make sure that my dar dar was neither a Liverpool nor Chelsea fan. My dar dar don't watch soccer. Ha.

The seriousness of your love:

Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

siukai comments: This one though I'm not too sure because before dar dar the number of dates I had... well is too embarrassing to be printed here. Ha.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

siukai comments: siukai is a born problem solver. Need I say more? Ha.

Just an update on my exam results which was revealed last week. I think I did still okay lah though there were two modules that did not meet my expectations. I thought I could at least get an A-. Ha.

But it was a fair result because I only started to work hard towards the end. Gys's sudden departure was difficult to handle and that period was really a tough one. But I've told myself to stop making excuses for myself because you reap what you sow. You can't possibly expect to grow roses by planting soya bean seeds. Unless they are genetically engineered of course. Ha.

That one module I got C, I kinda expected it cos I have to admit I did not put in enough effort. I swear that it will be the last C I will ever get in my remaining 2 years of study. (Notice that I never say I will not get C+ or D? Ha. )

I have not always been good with maths or numbers and so that's why I have decided to set a challenge to myself. Next sem, I will be taking 3 modules that involves maths and I'm going to score 3 As. Yup, it might be a tall order but I just want to prove to anyone who is reading this now that the mind can achieve whatever you set it to do.

I believe nothing is impossible, it's either because you did not try hard enough or you run out of time.

Winners make sacrifices, losers make excuses.

One of my new found friend has been asking me for tips on how to maintain a relationship, seeing how siukai and his patapon dar dar is almost into their 35 months, reaching 36 in July. :) Of course it takes two hands to clap but the role the guy has to undertake is crucial nonetheless.

So, do look out for siukai's upcoming book, "Women are from Bukit Panjang. Men are from Queenstown." Ha.

Here's a little sneak peek:

Girls like surprises. Who wouldn't? Actually guys like surprises too. So, give your partner a surprise. If you are a guy, buy your gf a bouquet of flower and treat her to dinner. If you are a girl, cooking him a sumptuous dinner and topping it up with the latest psp game can do wonders too.

And when they ask, "How come you give me present today? What's the occasion?"

You reply, "Give present to laopo/laogong/darling/honey need reason meh?"

I tell you, that smile on her/his face would be the widest you have ever seen. Ha.

I have been typing this for almost two hours now. Ha. Yah, I'm full of crap. :)

Yesterday, I thought about my previous post on Kingston. Initially, I wanted to post a heavily censored M16 version taking into account those people who do not know siukai well and who happened to read the entry might think that siukai is actually a nasty guy trying to badmouth someone.

Well, I thought about it for a while and realised that there will always be two camps to a story, like how there will be people who think that terrorism is a good thing while the rest of the world opposes it. Of course, I'm not saying I'm comparable to a terrorist lah.

I was searching for this quote which I read a long time back but wasn't able to find it, so I came up with my own version but with similar meaning.

When we were young, we were always conscious of how people think of us, we put on our best makeup, dress up so that we will look our best when we walk on the streets. When we were adults, we try our best to climb the corporate ladder, to gain success and money because we were afraid how people would judged us if we were not successful. And finally when we are old and frail, we finally realised that all these while, no one has been judging us because most people are too busy minding their own business.

At the end of the day, the opinions of others do not count because as long as you know you are doing the right things, you have spoken the truth and your conscience is clear.

It does not matter if everybody else think that siukai is the nastiest man alive because as long as my patapon dar dar, my family, friends and fans know that in fact siukai is the nicest man ever, that is good enough for me.

Therefore I stand by my judgement.

Corsair is still better than Kingston. Ha :P