A Million Dollar Lesson..

 A cab driver taught me a million dollar lesson in customer satisfaction and expectation. Motivational speakers charge thousands of dollars to impart his kind of training to corporate executives and staff. It cost me a $12 taxi ride. 

 I had flown into Dallas for the sole purpose of calling on a client. Time was of the essence and my plan included a quick turnaround trip from and back to the airport. A spotless cab pulled up. 

The driver rushed to open the passenger door for me and made sure I was comfortably seated before he closed the door. As he got in the driver’s seat, he mentioned that the neatly folded Wall Street Journal next to me for my use. He then showed me several tapes and asked me what type of music I would enjoy. 

 Well! I looked around for a “Candid Camera!” Wouldn’t you? I could not believe the service I was receiving! I took the opportunity to say, “Obviously you take great pride in your work. You must have a story to tell.”

 “You bet,” he replied, “I used to be in Corporate America. But I got tired of thinking my best would never be good enough. I decided to find my niche in life where I could feel proud of being the best I could be. 

 I knew I would never be a rocket scientist, but I love driving cars, being of service and feeling like I have done a full day’s work and done it well. I evaluate my personal assets and… Wham! I became a cab driver.

  One thing I know for sure, to be good in my business I could simply just meet the expectations of my passengers. But, to be GREAT in my business, I have to EXCEED the customer’s expectations! I like both the sound and the return of being ‘great’ better than just getting by on ‘average’”

 Did I tip him big time? You bet! Corporate America’s loss is the traveling folk’s friend!

 

 Lessons:

 

 * Go an Extra Mile when providing  any Service to others.

 

* The is no good or bad job. You can make any job good.

 

 * Good service always brings good return.

cheers,
Bobby Wan 

 

DIPLOMACY IN THE WORKPLACE

How to ask for a pay rise: One morning, a company manager discovered an unusual letter from one of his employees:

 

Dear Bo$$,

 

A$ all of u$ have read from the new$paper$, the $ingapore economy ha$ come out of the rece$$ion. In thi$ life, we all need $omething mo$t de$perately. I think you under$tand the need$ of u$ worker$ who have given = $o much $upport including $weat and $ervice to your company.I am $ure = you will gue$$ what I mean and re$pond $oon.

 

Your$ $incerely,
$teven $oh

 

The next day, the employee received this letter of reply: 

 

 

 

 

Dear Steven,

 

I kNOw you have been working very hard. NOwadays, NOthing much has changed. You must have NOticed that our company is NOt doing NOticeably well as yet. NOw the newspapers are saying the world’s leading = ecoNOmists are NOt sure, if the United States may go into aNOther recession. After = the NOvember pesidential election things may turn bad. I have NOthing more to add NOw. You kNOw what I mean.

 

Yours truly,
NOrman Tan
Manager

 

John Doe

Friendly Club 

When You thought I wasn’t looking, by a child

 A message every parent should read, because your children are

   watching you and doing as you do, not as you say…

 

 “When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you hang my first

 painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately wanted to paint another one.

 

 When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you feed a stray cat, and

 I learned that it was good to be kind to animals.

 

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you make my favorite

cake for me and I learned that little things can be the special things in life.

 

When you thought I wasn’t looking I heard you say a prayer, and I

knew there is a God I could always talk to and I learned to trust in God.

 

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you make a meal and take

 it to a friend who was sick, and learned that we all have to help take

care of each other.

 

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you give of your time  and

money  to  help people who had nothing and I learned that those who have

something should give to those who don’t.

 

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I felt you kiss me good night

and I felt loved and safe.

 

   When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you take care of our house

and  everyone in it and I learned we have to take care of what we are given.

 
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw how you handled your

responsibilities, even when you didn’t feel good and I learned that I would
have to be responsible when I grow up.

 

   When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw tears come from your eyes and

I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it’s all right to cry.

 

   When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw that you cared and I  wanted

to be everything that I could be.

 

   When you thought I wasn’t looking, I learned most of life’s lessons that

I need to know to be a good and productive person when I grow up.

 

   When you thought I wasn’t looking, I looked at you and wanted to say,
thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn’t looking.’”

 

   Each of us, parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt or friend, influence

   the life of a child.

 

Who you are DOES make a difference!

A teacher in New York decided to honour each of her students in high school by telling them the difference they each made to her. She called each student to the front of the class, one at a time. First she told each of them how they had made a difference to her and the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon imprinted with gold letters, which read,”Who I Am Makes a Difference.” Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class project to see what kind of impact recognition would have on a community.

 

She gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgment ceremony. Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honoured whom and report back to the class in about a week.

 

One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company and honoured him for helping him with his career planning. He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt. He then gave him two extra ribbons and said, “We’re doing a class project on recognition. We’d like you to go out, find somebody to honour, give them a blue ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third person to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back to me and tell me what happened.

 

Later that day the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had been noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy fellow. He met his boss and told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and would he give him permission to put it on

him.

 

His surprised boss said, “Well, sure.” The junior executive took the blue ribbon and placed it right on his boss’s jacket above his heart. As he gave him the last extra ribbon, he said, would you do me a favor? Would you take this extra ribbon and pass it on by honouring somebody else? The young boy who first gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to keep this recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people.

 

That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son and sat next to him. He said, “The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my office and one of the junior executives came in and told me he admired me and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius. Imagine… he thinks I’m a creative genius. Then he put this blue ribbon that says ‘Who I Am

Makes A Difference’on my jacket above my heart.

He gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honour. As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honour with this ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honour you. My days are really hectic and when I come home I don’t pay a lot of attention to you. Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in school and for your bedroom being a mess, but somehow tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me. Besides your mother,

you are the most important person in my life. You’re a great kid and I love you!”

 

The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn’t stop crying. His whole body shook. He looked up at his father and said through his tears, “Iwas planning on committing suicide tomorrow, Dad, because I didn’t think you loved me. Now I know you care. This is the happiest day I’ve known.”

 

The boss went back to work a changed man. He was no longer a grouch but made sure to let all his employees know that they made a difference. The junior executive helped several other young people with career planning and never forgot to let them know that they made a difference in his life……one being the boss’s son. And the young boy and his classmates

learned a valuable lesson.

 

Who you are DOES make a difference.

 

Remember… I give you a blue ribbon. Who you are makes a difference to me, and I wanted you to know that!

cheers,
Bobby Wan

Management

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost.
 He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below.
 He descended a bit more and shouted, “Excuse
 me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would
 meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”
 
 The woman below replied, “You’re in a hot air
 balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the
 ground. You’re between 40 and 41 degrees north
 latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west
 longitude.”
 
 “You must be in Information Technology,” said the
 balloonist. “I am,” replied the woman, “How did
 you know?”
 
 “Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you
 told me is, technically correct, but I’ve no idea
 what to make of your information, and the fact
 is I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much
 help at all. If anything, you’ve delayed my trip.”
 
 The woman below responded, “You must be in Management.”
 
 “I am,” replied the balloonist, “but how did you know?”
 
 “Well,” said the woman, “you don’t know where you are
 or where you’re going. You have risen to where you are,
 due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise,
 which you’ve no idea how to keep, and you expect people
 beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are
 in exactly the same position you were in before we met,
 but now, somehow, it’s my fault.”

 

Have a nice day…I mean it:)

READ THIS VERY SLOWLY… IT’S PRETTY PROFOUND.
Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven’t thought about it, don’t have it on their schedule, didn’t know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I’ve tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn’t suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word refrigeration mean anything to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched ‘Jeopardy’ on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, “How about going to lunch in a half hour?” She would gasp and stammer, “I can’t. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain.” And my personal favorite: “It’s Monday.” …She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We’ll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Stevie toilet-trained.

We’ll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet.

We’ll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older.

The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of “I’m going to”, “I plan on”, and “Someday, when things are settled down a bit.”

When anyone calls my ’seize the moment’ friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious.
You talk with her for five minutes, and you’re ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It’s just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker.

If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now…go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to……not something on your SHOULD DO list.

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say?
And why are you waiting?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask “How are you?” Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head?

Ever told your child, “We’ll do it tomorrow.”

And in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die?

Just call to say “Hi”?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift…Thrown away… Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

cheers,
Bobby Wan

What is the Universal Law of Attraction?

 The Universal Law of Attraction states: We attract whatever we choose to give our attention to–whether wanted or unwanted.

This Law is Universal because it does not matter who you are, where you live, what your religious beliefs are, what year you were born…the Law is true for everyone equally. It is as true as the Law of Gravity.

Most of the time, we attract by “default” rather than by deliberate choice.

We just sort of go through our day, focusing on problems that need to be solved or on things that did not feel good nor seem right. In so doing, we are actually creating more problems, more of what does not feel good and more of what does not seem right.

Think of yourself as a huge magnet. The kind that pulls metal to itself from afar off. It doesn’t “try” to attract, it simply does attract. It is the same way for us. Whether or not we are trying to attract, we ARE doing so all the time. (Except when we are asleep.) And we attract the likeness of what we think about. If we are thinking about a lack of something, we are attracting more lack (scarcity). If we are thinking about something we love, we are attracting more of what we love and enjoy. I know it sounds incredibly simple, and it is.

We humans are actually very powerful attractors and we can use this wonderful, god-given power to attract more of what we want in life-simply by paying attention to where we place our thoughts and desires.

An old proverb just came to my mind: “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7 It’s interesting that the writer of this proverb says “thinks in his heart” because most of the time, we think that we think with our mind. However, it is truly from the heart where we do our thinking, our believing, our “vibrating”.

It is from the heart that we attract. Picture your heart as a powerful magnet. The heart is the “vibrator” of all signals that attract.Think of a radio. It has many different stations. To tune into a station you dial a specific frequency. As soon as we turn our attention to something (dialed it’s frequency) it begins its journey to us.

To be rid of something you do not want in your life, simply tune in to a different vibration (frequency or radio station)–to something that you do want.

I see the Art of Deliberate Attraction as consisting of three parts:

1. Getting very clear about what it is I am wanting 2. Raising my vibration until it matches what I want 3. Allowing what I want to come to me

We have the opportunity to gain clarity in knowing precisely what we want, through the many “contrasts” that life offers us. The key to successfully using contrast is to observe it briefly and use it to help you decided what you do want. This takes a little practice, since our habit is to talk about, tell others about and focus on what we did not like.

It is usually part three that trips me up. I have held onto some self-limiting beliefs for a very long time-so long that I no longer recognize them, yet they are still vibrating below the surface, canceling out what I am wanting.

My “work” is to let go of all resistance and believe that what I am wanting will come to me–simply because I want it.

cheers,
BobbyWan

With Love….

  Hatred paralyzes life;

 Love releases it.

 Hatred confuses life;

Love harmonizes it.

Hatred darkens life;

Love illumines it.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

             With love

Put no demands on love, and love will bring you much.
Give love away, and it will be yours in greater and greater abundance.

With love, what was weak will grow strong.
With love, what was impossible becomes real.

Love can find the beauty and value in even the most desperate situation.
Love will bring hope where nothing else can.

Though love cannot be explained, it can never be denied.
Love has its own reality that transcends the most oppressive limitations.

Love elevates what it touches to a higher dimension.
When love is present, fears are calmed, wounds begin to heal, and joy is gloriously within reach.

Love, not because there is a reason, but because there is the possibility.
Love, and you will know what you cannot understand.

love,BobbyWan

The Applause that Refreshes

 ”Do you think my hair is soft and shiny?” Jessica asked Josh one moonlit evening. Josh answered, “Yep.”"And are my eyes bright and beautiful?” she continued. “Yep,” he replied.

“After a few minutes Jessica forged ahead, “Josh, do you think my skin is smooth and clear?” “Yep.”

At this, Jessica smiled brightly and declared, “Oh Josh, you say the sweetest things!”
I hope that Jessica can get what she needs from Josh! Not that a relationship should be built on flattery, but sincere compliments are a way of saying, “I care enough to notice.” They can also immensely improve relationships which are NOT romantic in nature.

Granted, some people feel suspicious, embarrassed, or defensive when complimented. They sometimes suspect that fine words might be part of a manipulative design. And quite often, people respond to compliments with mixed emotions rather than plain gratitude, primarily because they find the sincerity behind them suspect.

But in most instances, SINCERE encouragement can bolster self-confidence and cement friendships. In love relationships, thoughtful compliments can help keep the fires of romance burning vigorously.

One marriage counselor says, “Compliment your spouse at least once every day.” He cautions against flattery by adding, “It should be sincere. Then point out something NEW you appreciate about him or her every week. Make sure it is something you have never mentioned before. You’ll be surprised at what it does for your marriage.”

Compliments cost nothing and can accomplish so much. They are the applause that refreshes.

cheers, BobbyWan

Priorities In Life

  I believe our priorities in life are very important. They decide what we end up doing and getting in life.Our differences in priorities are what make us different. One of my highest priorities is being healthy. This has always been with me since childhood.

I never wanted to smoke because I knew it would make me less healthy. I never understood why any athlete would even consider smoking.

However, maybe they believed at the time it would make them cool or maybe help them attract members of the opposite sex. But, in my mind, those are very poor values. You are willing to risk your life and health for the good opinion of others.

So many people fall into this trap. When I see someone smoking, I know they have very different priorities than I do. I hate cigarettes. I also tend not to associate with people who smoke as far as possible. I want to be around people who are into clean living and people who don’t fall for pear pressure.

Another very important value I have is of being thin. This ties in with my health value. I bet you that my values are very different from someone who is overweight. I’m quite sure that if they had my values plus beliefs then they would be thin as well.

If I put on two or three extra kilos of fat, I would start getting worried.

I’d immediately form a plan to get rid of the fat. Luckily, I’ve only had to implement these plans a few times. But I never let these extra kilos get out of hand.

I think many people who are overweight may not take any action on their weight problems until they are 20 or more kilos overweight. Maybe they think it is natural to put on kilos as the years go on. Maybe they are just joining the crowd and being like almost everyone else these days.

I do feel that people have legitimate problems maintaining a healthy weight. For some it is easier than others. . I think that most people who get overweight also feel like they can’t control themselves.

We all have our problems in life. For some people it is a weight issue. For others it’s a self-esteem issue. So, I’m not putting people down who are overweight. We all have our problems. This is what we try to share our challenges and solutions with peoples around. It’s about helping you overcome your life issues and being the best you can be.

I am just amazed at what I see every day. I’d say more than 30% (est) of the people I see are overweight here. An interesting thing I found is that the people here are much ‘fatter’ than in our neighbouring countries.  We must have higher priorities when it comes to putting on extra weight.

A great exercise is to make a list of your values in life and then prioritize them. You may find that due to inertia you aren’t even following your own list of priorities or you may want to change the order of some of your values.

Here’s a sample list: (I’m not suggesting that this should be your values.)

1.      Financial Independence
2.      Family
3.      Happiness
4.      Freedom
5.      Health
6.      Friends

I see a little problem with this list of values. You may see some problems as well. If you rank financial independent higher than happiness, you’ll be willing to have a job or career you hate to make yourself a success.

Of course, for many people that wouldn’t be a success at all. Life is a journey and you should enjoy the ride as much as possible. This person might also work in a job where people smoke because he values  financial independence higher than his health.

Here is a possible different ordering of priorities. You may find problems with this order in your own life. Nevertheless, it just shows you how your values and how you prioritize them changes what you do in life.

1.      Happiness
2.      Health
3.      Freedom
4.      Financial Independence
5.      Family
6.      Friends

People who derive lots of happiness from their families and friends might order this list quite differently. Make your own list of up to 10 values or more if you like. Then order them and play around with them. Are you actually living within your own value system or have you slipped?

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t have to struggle to live within your values. They are who you are. But you may want to change some of your values if your current values aren’t serving you.

cheers,
BobbyWan