Be Prepared

There is this infamous saying, “God helps those who help themselves.”

First of all, I need to say that the above statement is entirely unblibical. Nowhere in the Bible will you ever find these words or even the idea of it. I mean, if we can help ourselves, we certainly do not need God, and it has long been proven that Man can not really help ourselves. Just look at the financial and enviromental problems we have, not to mention the issues of war, terrorism, AIDS etc etc etc.. (you get the idea)

As my pastor put it, the correct statement should be, “God helps those who CANNOT help themselves.”

If you have any doubts, just read the book of Exodus in the Bible. Pay attention to all the problems that the Israelites encountered in the wilderness. If they NEEDED to help themselves before God intervened, then well… we would not even be reading this thing called Bible.

But on the other extreme, there are people who think that relying on God means doing NOTHING. It is almost as if we can just lie down there and have everything stuffed down our throats by God. I mean, even as God provided manna and quail to the Israelites, they still need to go out and collect them.

As obvious as it may be, some airy-fairy, uber-spritual folks never get seem to get it. They think they can achieve excellence without working hard to prepare. It is as if they think God would take the exams or do their sales presentation for them!!

Yes, God is definitely WITH us, but God certainly do not do it for us. Even Isaac need to put in the seed before he got his 100 fold returns. Even for blessings, we need to be prepared to receive them.

Planting… before the harvest.

American Nightmare

Barack Obama

I feel for this guy… really. Just when we thought George Bush had it bad, he is having it worse.

While Bush made quite a mess during his term, Obama is expected to clean all that up. For all his charisma and great rhetorics, I do not see how he is able save the US, save the world. 

As it stands now, US is about $13 trillion ( approx 99% of GDP) in national debt (only… without taking account into their Social Security and MediCare liabilities to their citizens, also in their trillions) and the counter is still ticking. Someone, somewhere, is going to have to pay all that back, and who will it be? US taxpayers? China? India? Middle East oil? All the years of global expansion, flawed monetary policies and pushing the buck have finally caught up with the once mighty Uncle Sam.

I dread to think the day when US finally imploded like what some of it’s biggest corporations did  and impact it would have on the rest of the world…. only this time there would be no bailout.

Somehow, the scenes described in Revelations on the 4 Horsemen doesn’t seem so far fetched anymore.

 

Unpredictable

Jenson Button, beyond all expectations, clinched the 2009 F1 title. Yes, we have known for weeks that he is the favourite for the crown, but honestly, most of us had only start to believe that midway into the season.

Who would have given a serious thought at the start of the season that the Briton would actually be crowned as champion?  For most, Jenson’s good performances in the initial races were thought to be a flash-in-the-pan, and favourites like Hamiton, Massa, Raikkonen or even Alonso would eventually come good. But the end result just goes to show how we were never that good at predicting.

Button, a “handsome swine”, as what my colleague would call him… no disrepect to the swines.

Inspite of that, I am eternally amused how, over the years, many of my friends had tried to devise a “perfect” methology for football betting. They were totally convinced that there is a secret to beat the system and all they have to do is find it. I am always tempted to agree with them when I see them raking in the bucks, until the proverbial Black Swan hit and they lost everything they won, plus a few more.

In the aftermath, they would almost always tell me how they overlooked certain factors or how their emotions got the better of them or how Ronaldo’s injury did them in… but never would they admit that it was just impossible to predict the result of something as dynamic as a football game.

I mean, football is not something that we can crunch the numbers and derived a scientific analysis out of it. Look, what can we tell when Sunderland beat Liverpool 0-1? Does that mean Sunderland is a better team than Liverpool? (I am tempted to say yes to this)

It just meant Sunderland scored 1 goal and Liverpool did not. For all we know (I didn’t watched the game), Liverpool could be having 99 shots at goal, enjoying 99% of posession (not possible, I know) and failed to score but yet, conceded an unlucky (or lucky, depending on your perspective) on their end. 

If we really read into the stats instead of just the scoreline, we would be able to gain a clearer picture of the game itself, but again, even that would not be enough for us to predict whether Liverpool would win, lose or draw in their next match. But, strangely, for some punters, it would be a sure ”sign” that they should avoid Liverpool in their next away game.

But anyway, I am sure Liverpool will lose their next game, because they will be facing Manchester United, and Owen would score…. haha… Humans just won’t change, would we?     

My prediction of the expression of Liverpool’s players after the coming game against Man United.

Cash is King?!

While the rest of the world is still reeling from the financial downturn, it seems that some football clubs exist on a different planet.

After splashing some obscene amount of cash on Ronaldo, Benzema and Kaka, Real Madrid is still able some up with a further $30 million for Xabi Alonso. (Where did they even get those money?)

Once upon a time, they used to take their time to buy just one Galactico per year, but now,  as if the world is coming to an end soon, they are doing all their purchases in one season. Apparently, Barcelona’s success last season must have really hurt the Bernabeu’s pride, and they throwing tonnes of money to heal that wound.

But as all football fans have realized over the years, just because you have the 11 best players in the world doesn’t make you the best team in the world… and football IS a team sport.

Just ask Jose Mourinho. With the amount of money and quality of players under his helm at Chelsea, he never even got into the Champions League final with the club. And ironically, he actually won it with Porto, a club with lesser money and with fewer stars.

Clubs can buy all they want, but as the footballing cliche goes: success cannot be bought (at least not all the time), and I hope Real Madrid and Man City would win nothing this season to prove that point.     

As Mourinho might say: “It is never about the money, it’s all about ME.”

Money Talks

Money is always a sensitive issue, especially the money that others are getting (instead of us).

Recently, my pastor’s salary has been made public in the press, which for anybody, is quite an embrassing situation. I mean who ever likes their income to be made known to others?

At the first glance, he appreared to be making too much money for a preacher and as you might imagined, he had came under fire from netizens in forums for that. Though I am positive that the very people who were flaming him are not above having that sum of money for themsleves. Talk about hypocrisy and self-righteousness…

Anyway, I did a simple calculation myself and IMO, he fully deserved the renumeration he is getting… and more. Let’s take a look at what I mean:

The rate of the top motivation speakers in Singapore is about $2,000 an hour and above (yes, it is THAT much… for just talking ). My pastor preaches for about 2 hours for 4 services every sunday. 

Using the same rate, he should be making: 2 hours x 4 services x 48 weeks (assuming he took a month off for family)x $2,000= $768,000 .

Compared that to the figure published in the papers, he is at least, earning $200,000 lesser than what he should be. And as the leader of  the church, besides the weekly preaching, there are many other work that he needs to handle. (In case you thought running a church is easy, try it yourselves… if you can qualify)

When you consider nobody ever bat an eyelid when they hear David Beckham raking in millions a year for just kicking a ball around on a field or looking cool in a shaver ad, it becomes quite absurd to question the income of a preacher whose message has saved (literally) tens of thousands of souls in Singapore and many more overseas.

Is a saver of souls not more valuable than a sports posterboy?

Common sense… a rare commodity nowadays among the people of the world.   

Show Me the Money!!

After losing billions and costing the taxpayers billions more, AIG just did the most incredible thing by distributing more than $100 million of bonues to their top management people.

Hmm… if AIG is looking for able people to bankrupt their company, they should seriously consider me. I guarantee I can do as decent a job as what they did… at least I can’t go any worse!!

Furthermore, I come cheap. Maybe  just need a annual salary of USD$1 million, probably 6 months of bonus, with the use of the company car and the occasional private jet. That’s not even a fraction of what some of the guys are drawing… in bonuses alone!! 

While most of the world are feeling the heat of the financial meltdown, those people directly responsible are happily tucking in the warm corner of their bed, secure with the knowledge of having millions in their banks… despicable!!

Ironies of Life…

Misquoting Sun Tze

Guess many of you might have heard of this quote:

“知彼知己 百战百胜” (Literally translated: Know the enemy, know yourself and you would win 100% of your battles)

And guess most of you would “know” that it was attributed to Sun Tze’s Art of War (孙子兵法) … or was it?

The truth is, Mr Sun Tze never wrote anything like this before!!

In fact, this was what he wrote in the book:

“是故百战百胜，非善之善也” (winning 100% of your battles is not the best way to go)

“不战而屈人之兵，善之善者也” (winning without fighting is the highest way)

And what about “knowing the enemy and knowing yourself”?  In Sun’s own words, it should have been:

“知己知彼，百战不殆” (Know the enemy, know yourself and you would NOT lose any of your battle)

Though an author on a book on warfare, Sun Tzu was, ironically, a big advocate on “winning without fighting”  as he recognized the negative impact on a country finances during war times.

Hmm… think the US can do with some Sun Tze Art of War…

孙武, 字长卿

Words of Victory

Even a great man like Cao Cao (曹操) needed some motivation at times.

In the Battle of Guandu (官渡之战), Cao Cao was contemplating a withdrawal after failing to break down Yuan Shao (袁绍) ’s huge army and was running low on food supplies.

Cao Cao wrote to his top advisor, Xun Yu (荀彧), for his opinions on the matter. Xun, in his reply, urged Cao to stand firm and believed Yuan was no match to Cao’s military brilliance . 

Encouraged Xun ’s words, Cao Cao was able to rout Yuan Shao in that decisive battle, despite of numerical disadvantage, and eventually gained total control over China’s northern territories (河北).

Below is the letter by Xun Yu, reproduced from The Romance of 3 Kingdoms 三国演义, which I think is a most inspiring piece of writing.    

(Yes, I know some of you can’t read Chinese, but I just want to leave the orginal words as it is…)

“承尊命，使决进退之疑。

愚以袁绍悉众聚于官渡，欲与明公决胜负，公以至弱当至强，若不能制，必为所乘：是天下之大机也。

绍军虽众，而不能用；以公之神武明哲，何向而不济！今军实虽少，未若楚、汉在荥阳、成皋间也。

公今画地而守，扼其喉而使不能进，情见势竭，必将有变。此用奇之时，断不可失。惟明公裁察焉。”

曹操, 字孟德

 

CNY Blessings!!

It’s Chinese New Year today, and true to Chinese tradition, I wish all my readers ”GONG XI FA CAI!!!“

Chinese God of Wealth 

“Huat ah!!!!“

 

Besides the traditional Chinese greetings, let me also declare a Christian blessing over my readers…

 Jesus, the REAL God of Wealth

“Huat ah (with a slight mideastern accent)…!!!“

“The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity… You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country… You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out… The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands… You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none… You will be the head, not the tail!!”

I say Amen!!!

Axl Book Club

For the benefit of some of my friends, here is the list of some of the best business books I’ve read recently.

1. Think Big and Kick Ass (Motivation)- Donald Trump & Bill Zanker

2. Good to Great ( Management)- Jim Collins

3. Book Yourself Solid (Sales/Marketing)- Michael Port

4. Millionaire’s Paradigm (Motivation)- Peter Tan

5. All Marketers Are Liars (Marketing)- Seth Godin

6. Why We Want You Rich (Wealth)- Donald Trump & Robert Kiyosaki

7. Winning (Management/ Leadership)- Jack Welch

Hope you will benefit from reading.