1/26/2006 11:54:00 PM|W|P|Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|

A thought came to mind that I had wanted to put down on the blog for the longest time. When in the work environment, many people ask if it is better to be a top performer or a team player. Ok – given the nature of the question, it’s not fair because you can actually be a top performing team player. But all things being constant, I believe firmly that being a team player is far better than being a top performer.

 

In all my work experience (probably not considered very much for some of you, but probably enough to share), I’ve realized that the harmony and interdependent nature of the working world requires team work and collaboration. I know some people think that there is a need to be independent, for instance, where selling is concerned, isn’t it better to be independent? Well, I’ve got some reason to believe that the team works far better, especially when bonded effectively. I know that there are many instances where individual performance skyrockets at the expense of the team performance. I’ve been doing lots of team building training for corporations just to help them create a new corporate identity through that training. The results I’ve seen are tremendous – team building really creates a powerful synergy within an organization to make things happen.

 

You can have a fantastic individual track record, but if you are unable to work with the needs of the larger group in mind, then you are really missing the point. People have the opportunity to succeed as individuals - but without recognition from society, the success ceases to be meaningful.

|W|P|113829085730072940|W|P|Star Player or Team Player?|W|P|stuart@imasiahub.com1/26/2006 11:31:00 AM|W|P|Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|

Ok… I know a lot of people have been getting fat on the new year goodies WAAAaay before the Chinese New Year. How do I know? I’ve been there! J

 

Seriously… Chinese New Year is significant. It’s probably the only time in the year where offices literally shut down operations for up to 7 days or more! But more significant is the ritual of getting together in a reunion. The idea that we should have reunions must have come from someone who truly valued the concept of family.

 

But what does reunion mean for you outside of the CNY celebrations?

 

Ever thought that reunion could be looking at what’s inside of you and beginning to piece things together again? That if it was a moment of doubt or fear, that you could come to terms with yourself and become ‘whole’? Reunion makes people feel happy, satisfied and connected. I suppose it will be the same for you.

 

Over the last month or so, I was looking inside myself and reorganizing. Well… you could say that my website is a reflection of my mood. The shift for me is such that I’m looking at a more integrated approach to building myself to the next level of knowledge and experience. I suppose I’ve changed quite a bit over the last year, with multiple downs and one really big ‘up’.

 

Part of it is a coming back to self – an inner reflection that is uplifting. I’ve taken stock of what I’ve done in the past that has affected and changed people, and I think I like what I see. This year will be a new and interesting change for me and the things I do, not specifically in the work I do, but the way I do it. So this means you can look forward to a lot more ACTION! J

 

Chinese New Year is about prosperity. But if you haven’t helped someone else to prosper, then how will you grow? Prosper in heart, mind and spirit, and may the year of the Dog bring you all back to yourself so you can learn more from yourself about what your future holds!

|W|P|113824631452006426|W|P|Chinese New Year Renuion... Inside!|W|P|stuart@imasiahub.com1/27/2006 06:49:00 PM|W|P|Blogger 咸鱼:赏味期间:无限|W|P|Hey Stuart,
Happy Chinese New Year to u too!

Cheers,
Wel (Whoosh 13)1/24/2006 03:26:00 PM|W|P|Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|

“Have you ever been wrong?” ~ Richard Bandler.

 

This quotation hangs in my head whenever I find myself thinking I know everything. It’s a solid kick in the butt, and prevents me from going the direction of being an egotistical megalomaniac (heh) J

 

I spent a lot of time figuring out many things in myself through the people I interact with. Have you ever had a time where people would approach you to seek advice and all you thought was that they were there to get advice? That you could have a solution for them? And everything you said was rejected as a possible solution? In reality, depending on what purpose they are there for, they aren’t just asking for advice. They mirror for us, some feedback to say “I’m not really here for solutions – I want to be heard”. I learnt to open up my eyes and ears to the nuances in what people say they need versus what they truly need. So, yes, I have been wrong before in offering advice when people merely needed to be heard.

 

To communicate well, I usually begin by recognizing that the jigsaw is incomplete in my mind. What I mean is that looking at someone’s dilemma or problem doesn’t always give me a full picture, unless I can do a mind-to-mind comparison. So clarification matters. It’s a lesson I learnt a long time ago, but occasionally I digress and forget. I have come to realize that the most valuable part of listening to people is to be open and let them be a mirror to their own problems and solutions.

 

When I first became a counselor, I learnt that it was important to be aware of the client. How easy it is to forget that sometimes, we are caught up in things we need to do we forget the emotional state in which we are in. By the time you realize, it may be too late. Check yourself on occasion – how are you reacting and how are you responding to people?

 

Build emotional awareness and sensitivity to the real needs of people. Sure, we’re not perfect, but always remember that you are always dealing with a human being. Everyone has esteem needs, everyone wants to be competent. The end result is that people are not at fault – they are just limited by the awareness of their available resources.

 

When you can coach yourself to awareness, then put yourself in a mode to understand where you are emotionally because to interact with someone effectively, you must be in the appropriate state to receive and communicate. It’s actually much more important to be empathetic first, and then solution-oriented. Solutions will always present themselves to people who approach you for their problems when you don’t push the solution to them. Sometimes, you might be surprised at the outcome of such a position when you don’t judge but allow the judgement to unfold from the person presenting the problem.

 

 

|W|P|113808760403272204|W|P|Coaching Yourself: "Have You Ever Been Wrong?"|W|P|stuart@imasiahub.com1/24/2006 04:54:00 AM|W|P|Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|

One of the darkest times people can experience in life is a feeling of being consumed by hatred. I think many of us have experienced some measure of hate before, but this stems deeper into the soul. Hatred is a trigger reaction, and a very taxing emotion to handle. It consumes, literally, the fibre of one’s soul. The truth about hatred is that it is always irrational. Hatred extends beyond just a survival mechanism in modern evolution.

 

Why then, do people hate? What’s the rationale? Have they really gone crazy?

 

The assessment is that hatred makes them live, but out of an irrational purpose. Hate can drive a person. But it is the hate that leads to a powerful flambé, but after that, follows a meaningless path toward self-destruction. With the object of your hatred out of your way, there’s nothing left to live for.

 

Expelling the inner demon that created the hatred really calls for a looking into the mirror. Some people may be externally beautiful or handsome, but if they are boiling with hatred, it will begin to leak into their faces and eyes. The cold hard stare of reality can often make someone’s bones freeze. You can tell, if someone is mad in hate, just as you can tell if someone is mad in love.

 

To heal from hatred takes a journey. It is a journey of pain, and confronting the most painful situation. It is through the pain and the endurance of the pain that will lead to a realization of what we were really hurting from. The hurt, then unfolds and presents us with a reflection of our inner self. The ugliness that stares back, however, is like the proverbial lion with a thorn in its paw. Removing it is equally painful – but worthwhile.

 

Have you healed from your hatred? Even if it is past, find some time to consider how you have learnt from it, and how you can grow. Because even the trees do not smack the moss that lives off its branches. Neither does the sea seek out and destroy every ship in sight. While destructive forces in nature exist, just like in human nature, it can be used for a far better purpose on the planet, than mindless destruction.

 

If you need to discuss hatred, drop me some comments and I’ll review it with you. Alternatively, you may head down to http://www.stuarttan.com/question.htm and drop me a note.

|W|P|113804968626028034|W|P|Healing From Hatred|W|P|stuart@imasiahub.com1/23/2006 04:52:00 PM|W|P|Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|

Dear friends, the blog address is no longer at stuart-tan.blogspot.com. Please visit http://www.Stuart-Tan.com for updates on the blogs. J

|W|P|113800632767498946|W|P|Blog Address Changed to http://Stuart-Tan.com!|W|P|stuart@imasiahub.com1/23/2006 11:07:00 AM|W|P|Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|

Hey everyone! I’ve managed to change the look of http://www.stuarttan.com and I hope you like it. It’s cleaner, and people have been telling me to CHANGE THE DARN PHOTO. So… I hope you are happy now…

|W|P|113798566264472506|W|P|StuartTan.com gets a new look!|W|P|stuart@imasiahub.com1/23/2006 12:20:00 AM|W|P|Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|

There are many times when our visual self starts to explore the world around us. It turns out that the most common thing for us to do is to judge the book by it’s cover. It’s a natural tendency, and only those who are particularly astute and aware will be able to pick out problems with their initial judgement. Whenever you keep your eye open, therefore, keep your heart open too. Your judgement has to be made with some heart. I know that it is difficult sometimes to have to trust your intuition. But what you see that you can’t trust is something that you can’t rely on. Heh… if that was confusing, then you should realize that the judgements we pass on other people are actually the internal representations in our minds – expectations we conjured up. So, if we shifted our perception, people will behave differently. Explore that. See what it’s like to feel a person’s ‘true’ nature as you interact with people.

|W|P|113794684784108381|W|P|Keeping an Eye Open, Keeping your Heart Open|W|P|stuart@imasiahub.com1/19/2006 11:30:00 AM|W|P|Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|

If you haven’t heard of the Patterns of Excellence, you must make time to come for the preview we are running tonight! Anyone – students, parents, managers, business professionals, entrepreneurs, will benefit because of the nature of the success principles taught here. Of course, if you want to start a new business, this is probably the best place to go to tweak your mindset!

 

Register yourself at info@akltg.com or call direct at 62740105! Look forward to meeting you.

|W|P|113764145728449005|W|P|Improving personal mastery|W|P|stuart@imasiahub.com1/18/2006 06:42:00 PM|W|P|Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|

I’m starting the course on in February, so those of you who are business owners, IT people, and people who are frustrated by the measly traffic you get online and offline, come down for this seminar. It’s going to be covering some of the latest ground-breaking stuff I’ve ever learnt, and I am certain that I’m ahead of almost everyone in the market. More of it to come at http://InternetMarketingSingapore.com/104/ so stay tuned!

|W|P|113758096605638061|W|P|How To Grow A Business And Achieve Maximum Traffic|W|P|stuart@imasiahub.com1/06/2006 02:05:00 PM|W|P|Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|

I spoke with a friend Manoj Sharma regarding the concept of excellence, and something struck me. It appears that the Law of Averages is the Law of Excellence.

 

You see, when you are in an organization, there are about 10-20% of employees who are top performers, earning 80-90% of the orgnaization’s revenues. The others end up filling in the remainder. But while I know the Pareto Principle may be a significant theory to fall back on, I think that Averages is a law that applies across many places. This is also known as ‘equilibrium’ or ‘homeostasis’ – whatever you want to call it.

 

Every individual gravitates toward Average. But at the same time, being average is the company’s most significant clue to its excellence. Without average people, the organization would not be able to function. Honestly, you can look at top performers and just keep them in the company. With top performers only, the organization will NEVER run. But with a mass of Average employees, the organization not only runs, it runs CONSISTENTLY.

 

So in reality, average employees are the boon to the organization… and any steps to build them into top achievers will usually be for naught. However, the maintenance in terms of training, developing and building them is an important function. Average employees need a better culture and system to sustain their balance, if not things may taper off the other way, especially if they don’t have a means to remain happy at work.

 

Just a thought!

|W|P|113652755644439041|W|P|Average Better Than Excellent|W|P|stuart@imasiahub.com1/06/2006 01:30:00 PM|W|P|Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|

Looks like http://InternetMarketingSingapore.com is about to head for sub-50,000 ranking soon.

Alexa has a toolbar that helps identify how much traffic a website gets (in general). So, ever since my heydays of 4,000,000 rankings, climbing through the many rungs in the internet landscape, this is going to be an interesting milestone for InternetMarketingSingapore.com

 

|W|P|113652541147961561|W|P|Sub 50,000 on Alexa!!!|W|P|stuart@imasiahub.com1/12/2006 08:39:00 PM|W|P|Anonymous Anonymous|W|P|Hello stuart,

I'm farveen from CTSS and I just finished the 'I am gifted programme' It was very fun and exciting. You made most of us wake up and showed us who we are... thanks a lot for the motivation... by de way ur blog is very intersting to be read and it contains lots of useful info. Hope that i could do well for my 'o' lvls. tc!!!1/21/2006 08:55:00 AM|W|P|Blogger Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|Hi Farveen, Keep up the good work, and if you need, drop me questions anytime at http://www.stuarttan.com/question.htm!1/01/2006 10:11:00 AM|W|P|Stuart's Philosophies|W|P|

Here’s wishing everyone a very Happy New Year for 2006.

 

I guess you would have probably been out painting the town red and stuff, but did you ever wonder why New Year ‘celebration’ is required?

 

Our entire life surrounds a cycle – start, stop; begin, end. But we arbitrarily placed the start and stop. Especially where time is concerned. We organize our time and life in a way that makes us achieve closure and completion.

 

So… since this is a new beginning, you’ll all have to join me in setting new commitments and goals. It’s the only way to remain focused for the future.

 

Posting your commitment actually helps you to focus on it and therefore help you to reach it much more easily.

 

Hmm… I wonder what I’ll be doing in 2006. After what I went through in 2005, I’m probably going to end up focusing on spiritual growth (ahem, not religious per se), and the means to help me make my life fuller, so that when I’m training, the experiences I share can help people more. It’s about learning, but this time, I’m also going to focus on putting my knowledge into more tangible things like videos and audios.

 

2006 will also see a change in this blog. I’ll be shifting the blog to another domain at http://stuart-tan.com. Yeah, yeah… it’s different from http://stuarttan.com and it may be confusing, but hey – it’s easier to control it that way. If you at all get confused with the URL… just type whatever comes to mind.

 

2006 will also see me with lots of innovations. :D

I’ve re-discovered the value of innovation through my foray into internet marketing, and will be developing my own innovative skills over the next few months or so.

 

Will there be more??

 

If there are, I’ll definitely post!

|W|P|113608146733215388|W|P|Happy New Year!|W|P|stuart@imasiahub.com