Pablo Picasso

Did you know that Pablo Picasso's full name was Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso?

Here are some famous quotes by this great man of Art.



- I am always doing that which I cannot in order that I may learn how to do it - Pablo Picasso

- He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.

- Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.

- Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.

- Painting is a blind man's profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen.

Wise words by a wise man.... a genius before his time. I wonder... what kind of politician he would be?

When The Gem Meets The Gem Cutter

Imagine, a piece of less than spectacular stone. Who knew it has the potential of becoming a sparkling marvel that women craves?

Nobody could see the potential of the piece of stone. Only the Jewel Cutter!

Diamond cutting is the art, skill and, increasingly, science of changing a diamond from a rough stone into a faceted gem. Cutting diamond requires specialized knowledge, tools, equipment, and techniques because of its extreme hardness.

Although there are the 4 C's that determines a diamond's value : Clarity, Colour, Cut, Carat. The most important is the cut!

Cut has the biggest impact on the beauty of diamonds and sometimes least amount of difference in their price compared to color, clarity and carat weight. The word cut has several meanings when it comes to diamonds. The cut of a diamond does not just mean its shape (round brilliant, princess, oval, cushion, etc.) but also addresses the symmetry, polishing, angles and the proportions of each physical aspect of the diamond.

The cut determines the diamond's sparkle and brilliance. A properly cut diamond will refract the light that enters the diamond and return it through the top to produce the much desired sparkle. The angles have to be exactly right to optimize the reflection of light back to your eye.

What did I learn from the passage above?

Firstly, I consider my work as the Master Gem Cutter. Where other people did not consider those pieces of stone precious, I had a different view. I saw its potential, I saw its beauty. I saw possibilities. This is where the cutting begins. The cutter must be skillful, creative, has imagination, patience. The gem must be willing, tough, resilent.

However, the most important lesson to be learnt is not this. Look at how shinny the gem is. How it sparkles. But do you realize something. It only sparkles when there is light! and it does not produce any light itself. The cut enables the gem to refract light so as to create the beauty of a rainbow.

Food for thought :)

DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

Wished that I knew what I know now. What do I know now? What have I learnt? What I have learnt is to remind myself every day.... is that none of IT matters. Yes, none of ANYTHING matter. Everything is neutral.

Sitting in traffic. Missing a flight. A bad cup of $5 coffee. A woman sitting in her car...no, squatting!... WHAT IS SHE DOING!, while you're waiting with your blinkers for her to pull out.

Why she didn't call? Why didn't he reply my sms? How come she doesn't pick up my call? What did I do? What is she doing? Did I mess up? Is he scheming world war III? Have aliens kidnapped her? Maybe he is in a fix....but why doesn't he ask me for help? What's wrong with me???

We waste our energy and too much of our lives getting upset, being stressed, overly worried about what are only annoyances. ''Ask yourself, will this matter in a year?"

What I know now? What I've learned, but what I have to remind myself every day, is that life lessons aren't something you memorize like 2-times-2 or ''Four score and seven years ago" and that's it.

Life lessons -- stay calm, be patient, don't sweat the small stuff -- fade. You have to relearn them again and again....oh....and everything that happens are small stuff!

Things happen to make you learn. And if you don't learn the lesson being taught, it will happen again and again until you finally learn...why not learn it the first time round? So instead of asking yourself "why did this happen to me?" or "why am I so unlucky?" ask yourself "Why can I learn from this?" and "What good can I see of this?"

THE GAME OF LIFE

The game of life is a wonderful invention. You choose the players, you determine the rules. You decide when to play it. You set the rewards. You decide when you win and why you win. You are the master. You choose your colours, you choose your symbol, you choose your destiny.

The billion dollar question is.... "Why do we make it so much harder for ourselves?" I am writing this because I was "encouraged" and "discouraged" with some stuff I experienced in Macau!

I was encouraged : I saw so many people made it! I met many fantastic performers, so positive, so willing to learn. I talked to quite afew champions...who made it despite of the odds. I witnessed for myself, the QCE president...2nd year running....she was only a clerk in CPF back room support!

I was discouraged : I saw champions who were rude and inconsiderate - why do they need to be arrogant to prove their superiority? I witness champions who make themselves small when they are really big. I chance upon negative energy despite the positive setting. I saw an Eagle turned into a chicken.

Yes, both winners and losers made it to Macau! They are winners in Prudential's and everyone else's eyes.... but they are losers in their own. Why are these people so stubborn stupid to set rules in their Game Of Life that will almost guarantee that they will lose? Have they forgotten that in the GOL, they set their own rules?

I challenge everybody...before you get upset, ask yourself the following 7 questions:

1) Where is this issue on a scale of 1 to 10?

2) How important will this issue be in 6 month's time?

3) Is my response appropriate and effective?

4) How can I influence or improve the situation

5) What can I learn from this?

6) What will I do differently the next time?

7) What can I find that is positive in this situation?

And if you are honest with your answers, you will realise that you can play your Game of Life well.... so long as you put things into perspective.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Is it the Porsche or the Bently? Maybe a Merserati? or even an Aston Martin?

Whatever it is.....996 days till it materialize!

Do I need a sports car? Especially one that costs almost half a million? Ofcourse not!

I don't need it...I REQUIRE IT! And I am confident of acquiring it in 996 days.

How do I know? I have no freaking idea. I did I know I would be promoted to FSD this year? How did I know all my full year FCs would be award winners? How did I know my training would be well received? I just know the things I know.

I know the things I know because a long time ago, I asked God to let me know everything I need to know and not let me know the things I don't need to know. And God has been faithful. Yes, many people find me a pain in the ass and even more people can't stand my opinionated character.... but I just know the things I need to know.

Just one disclaimer here...I observe that many people out there is hungry for information they don't need to know...and not interested in information they ought to know. This creates havoc in their lives because you are only as effective and efficient and joyful and accurate as they information you rely on!

So.... be aware of noises (useless information), and only pay attention to useful information.

MENTOR-MORPHOSIS !!!

Finally! The day has come and gone!

And how I did? Was my 45 minute sharing session good?

I have no freaking idea! All I knew was i only managed to cover 50% of what I had prepared, and anyhow talk for the other 50%. After my session, I had many people come up to me say "Good", "Well Done", " Good Job" but those were meaningless to me....doesn't tell me anything. But then, I got some other feedback that gave me a hint what I said made some impact in some of them. "You said something that I could you...thanks", "You have some interesting concepts which I intend to use", "What's your number, can I invite you to share during my monthly meeting?" The one remark that made my day was from Col. Izaidin...the person running the ABC camp. He said "I wanna have a chat with you... you have some great..." then he was interrupted by someone else :P

Anyway, I noticed Col taking notes while I spoke....very cool!!!!

Then, late in the afternoon...I had the best feedback of all...there is this guy called Philip...who was once, according to Mr Pang, was a fantastic FC who made MDRT for many years. Now he is retired and sells training materials...book, CDs, etc...and he said that he liked what I say, and that my material is marketable....hmmm....food for thought. Vic! stop my recording blog....research how we can charge subscription :)

6 Days For 45 mins...and its my first draft

This is most disturbing. Took me 6 days to come up with my first draft for my 45 minutes stint at SAMC (www.fsma.org.sg).

I don't usually take more than a day to prepare for an 8 hour session. But this is different (ya right... justify justify justify). I am addressing agency leaders from the various insurance companies. These are people with many years of agency experience...who am I to address them? (yup... we justify, rationalize, and find excuses to put the blame on someone else, which reminds me, #$@!%^^& Mike Seow... why did he even suggests that I talk at the Leaders' Conference!!??!! I am not ready.... What if nobody respond to what I say? What if I make a full of myself? What if I never be invited again to any FSMA event?)

Ok... back to being StuporMan... I mean Superman. This is no biggy... I take it in my stride. What's the big issue of talking for 45 minutes... I can do it in my sleep (my primary school form teacher would readily agree...after sending me for detention....again!).

Anyway, I have an important subject to share this coming Wednesday. The Ungrooming & grooming of a Financial Consultant. And who better to share than me? My team increased their productive by almost 50% last year. Every single FC with more than 6 month's experience qualify for at least one award. YES!!! EVERY ALL 7 OF THEM! I must be doing something right...er...they must be doing something right.

That's the miracle of being an Agency Leader. I don't actually sell a single case, but I get the credit and the glory. I am in the position to change people's lives. Thank God for giving me this life purpose.

Cash Flow Game Sunday

Sunday, 15 March 2009
Got up early to attend a seminar : How to play Robert Kyosaki's Cash Flow Game. Had to pay $50 to attend!!!!

Bought the same a couple of months ago at a discounted price of $300... and had not played it even once! Ya... need to pay $50 just to play. I guess I am weird this way...hmmm... I guess many people are like me, we need to feel a little pain before we act.

The game itself was ok, but I feel that it was amateurish organized. I did however learnt some lesson there, so I guess the 50 bucks and the entire sunday morning did not go to waste.

The lessons I learnt are:
1) To be rich, I need to take risks. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. But the risk could break you.
2) People are predominately selfish. If they feel that an arrangement would benefit them in a small way, but would potentially benefit someone else in a much bigger way, they would not agree to the arrangement....even if it will benefit them 100%
3) There are so many intelligent, highly educated people out there with faulty thinking. And the major faulty thinking most have is : "Although I know my success is a result of my hard work, real success is dependent on luck or some external force that is beyond my control"

No wonder there are so many "non-winners" out there!