Be a sport.

You may have a goal of running a marathon or trying to look like a season body builder. However, when you look at the mirror it seems otherwise.
Sometimes the problem is the starting block. If you have too big of a goal, it just gets too overwhelming and far fetch that you end up not trying.
In a previous blog, there was a write up on an effective starting goal, which talks about being 1 step better.
While that method might work, there is another successful way to see fast results. It is by joining a sports. It could be an individual or team sports. The idea here is to train and make your way as an athlete in that sports. This method has proven to be very useful in delivering results. Individuals normally experience more than what they have planned to lose. The competitive spirit and will power has shown to be the contributors of this successful plan.
So, what's your sport?

WIIFM

I'm sure you would have heard of Hits FM or Fly FM. They are radio network station. WIIFM is not anything of that sort by the way. It stands for What's In It For Me.
I realize some people's mind is just tuned in to WIIFM. Everything you say or do with them but be centered to them otherwise the discussion is just not meaningful. They must see how they can benefit, primary monetarily.
I don't know about you but I just don't enjoy talking to them however if you don't have a choice, here are 3 ways to do it.
1. Choose not to talk to them even if you have something fun that you want to share with them. This way you keep the respect going in them.
2. Set the tone during the conversation with them by asking questions and go less by answering their questions.
3. Match their tone of voice when talking to them. Be sensitive with their rhythm and pace of voice and follow them but make sure they don't know you are consciously doing it. Matching them may make them be comfortable with you.

Drinking strategies.

Yesterday one of my colleague had headache due to the hot weather. She couldn't work and it spoiled her whole day. I think besides her many others would probably be uncomfortable in this hot weather.
Currently the temperature is high and it makes the heat sometimes unbearable. There are a few reasons why it happens. One is of course the temperature per se. When it rises, the core or body temperature rises as well. When the core temperature rises, it cause us to be uncomfortable and causes other kinds if distresses as well.
Besides that, the humidity in our country is high as well. When this happens it increases the water vapor. The increase of water vapor makes sweating difficult. When we don't sweat well the heat is still trapped at our skin and that makes us more uncomfortable.
Gosh. What do we do?
Well, it's simple and easy. It comes down to your drinking strategy. Oh, I didn't mean alcoholic beverages.
During hot weather it's good to drink a few types of juices including coconut water or barley. When drinking these juices, make sure it's cold but not ice chilled. Also, don't try to drink too much at a time but probably consume about 150-250 ml, which is about half glass for every hour until you finish about 500 ml. When this happen, your body will send you to the toilet to urine and when you urine the heat will secreted out thru it.
As a result, you will feel comfortable, slight sensation of coolness and you will not be sweating profusely all the time. Try it now to experience the results.

Program your mind: Say no!

Here are a series of articles on programming your mind for success. In this first article, we are going to discover how to say no on the foods that you don't want to have!

Do you sometimes regret why you took that roti canai, nasi briyani or that cheese cake? Do you feel bad after that? Do you see yourself saying things like, I will not do this again but see yourself doing it again and again and again.
If this keeps happening, you are sure to lose this mental game. When you lose this mental game, your weight will sure to go up and by no time you will join the millions of others who suffer from overweight and obesity.
To assist you on how to take control of your mind here is a tip.. Don't tell your mind what you don't want, rather tell it want you do want.
If you go to a restaurant and when you have a look at the menu and then go,
I can't have this, I can't have that. When you say you can't have, the mind still excepts it has can have. The reason to that is that 'The mind doesn't understand the word NO'.
So, when you say you can't have an ice cream, you are actually telling your mind to consider an ice cream because the brain can't digest the word 'can't'.
When you say you can't have that carbonated beverage you are telling your mind to consider the carbonated beverage.
Rather than saying to yourself what you don't want, you have to tell yourself what you do want.
So rather than saying you don't want an ice cream, you should say I do want an apple.
Rather than saying you don't want a carbonated beverage, you should say I do want a freshly blended fruit juice.
What you are doing is that you are redirecting your mind on what is not healthy to what is healthy.
When the mind is 'healthy' and strong, it can effect the body to be strong and healthy too.
Try it now and experience changes instantly. Have fun.

Get Moving!

Be careful with your words. Especially when it's 'free'.

We have heard the saying 'you can cheat some people sometimes, you can cheat some people all the time, but you can't cheat all the people all the time'.
Well, this experience is not about cheating, but it turned out that way at that moment when the 'free' was used.
I went to pay my phone bill. As the cashier was organizing the money for me, he said 'sir, we can give you a number for free'. My reply was 'zaman sekarang mana ada barang free'. He was surprised and he answered 'numbernya free tapi...', when my ears heard the word 'tapi' I responded 'hah, tapi..'. 'ye la sir number free'.
Well firstly I don't think he knows what I'm saying. That is how can you get something free nowadays. There is definitely something you will need to get with it therefore, the definition of free is subjective. Maybe we all have our own definition of free compared to the real definition of free. Whatever it is, the conversation with the cashier turned out sour and I pitied him cause it was above 9.30pm and he has to end his working day on a negative note because I was one difficult customer.
The lesson is that be mindful with the words that you use at work especially those that you use with your customers. Yes, we have to follow instructions on doing this at work but it's not one size fits all kind of a thing. Everyone is different therefore observe their responses.
The next time you don't get a respond that you were expecting, do the following:
1. Pause,
2. Quickly run thru what you did, if you know the answer, repair it, otherwise
3. Clarify with the customer why they responded that way, otherwise
4. Keep quiet and just move on.

Get Moving!

Blame it on your taste buds.

Recently my colleague spent me a Mars chocolate bar. I was so happy. Knowing myself, I would have never made a conscious decision to get the bar so it was great that there was someone who got it for me.
At a glance, I rejected the Mars but being Malaysian and a colleague I decided to accept the bar of chocolate.
I was expecting it to be ok for me however after a few bites I realized that I did not enjoy the taste of it. I really don't know why. Maybe it was the stickiness? Maybe it was the caramel? Or maybe it was the chocolate? I'm not surprised if it was the chocolate cause there were few occasions when I had chocolate and I didn't enjoy the taste. At the end, when I finished the last bite, I felt the 260 calories wasn't worth it.
After a while reasoning out with myself I got the answer. The reason why I didn't enjoy the mars bar was probably my taste buds. My taste buds just don't prefer the taste of chocolate. So, I will not have the trouble to burn of the extra calories. However, if your taste buds enjoy the taste of chocolate, then I think you might get yourself in trouble. And besides chocolate, if your taste buds go well for ice cream, cookies and other products with high in sugar, then confidently I can assure you that you probably have a tough time burning of the extra calories.
So, I guess taste buds are evil too. They maybe a deciding factor on what you choose to eat and if you decide on an unhealthy choice, now we know why. Gosh, this must be trouble because if your taste buds enjoy not only chocolate but also ice cream, cookies and other products with high in sugar and fat, then guaranteed we will be putting on the kilo's due to excess calories and if mixed will low physical activity, that's just recipe for disaster.
Gosh, all this problems and it all started from the taste buds???

Celebrity weight gain.

Recently the bollywood scene was surprised by the appearance of the overweight Manisha Koirala. She was pale, hagged and terribly overweight.
The media swarmed her like as tho an artist cannot be succumb to this crisis. Well, thats where the problem lies, that an artist cannot put on weight!
An artist or also known as a celebrity is expected to take care of their weight. If you wanna go out there in front of everyone, you must be able to carry yourself well. What better way like being in shape.
Is the world so cruel that one cannot make a mistake? I'm not sure about that but what I'm sure is that it makes good news.