Being First is EVERYTHING

Before you read my entry, please kindly watch the video first.
The topic starts from 8:00 onwards.
If you like it, you can watch the whole video :)

 From Wikepedia:

Malcolm T. Gladwell, CM (born September 3, 1963) is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker.^[1] He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. He has written four books, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference (2000), Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005), Outliers: The Story of Success (2008), and What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (2009), a collection of his journalism. All four books were New York Times Bestsellers.

Have you ever wondered if being first is everything?
Is there any different between: Being first is everything and Being first in everything?
Which one are better and why?
Where is our stand on this topic and how do we see this view?
From the video Malcolm said that being first was not that good at all.
How many persons who are first that are not more successful than the second/third?
We can see Google is not the first search machine but make the biggest till today.
Apple was late in entering the market but could stand the ground.

If we look around our neighbor, we can see others example that being first is not always good.
Improving and making the old ideas better, bigger, and cheaper are much important in entering market.
How many copy cat company can gain more profits than original?
And most of the times people goes to cheaper product with lesser quality.
Being first entering market gives us more advantages but at the same time gives us more risks to handle.
Whereas the second and third will only follow the platform with some improvement along the way.

Being first is everything but never be the first in everything.
I don't think you will agree with me but for me I think we should consider about this.
Yes we should try our best to be the best that we can be.
In addition being first will give us sense of accomplishment and self esteem.
It is always great to be in first rank in the class.
I'm really proud to be the winner of International Speech contest in my club.


However I can't be the first in everything and none can do the same (IMHO).
Maybe we see people who are so wonderful; first rank in class, pretty, rich, nice, etc.
However believe me, there is some flaws that we may not see with our naked eyes.
Well I met such person before in my life.
Nobody is perfect and nobody will be one.
There is always some course where we can't be the first and we don't want to be.
I don't want to be the first punished by new law.
I don't want to be the first getting new disease.
I don't want to be the first tasting the death.

As human there is an urge to be the first in every subjects.
Even our mother pushed us to be the first in class.
Hence we grew up with this "program" that we need to be first always, every time, and   everywhere.
We don't like to be defeated and there is a big shame in losing.
Instead of realizing that we may be weak in this area, we push ourselves to our limits till the end where we break.
Hopefully people can realize that it is good to be first but the best is we learn from the process.
End is not an end at all without realization and understanding of the road.
Who will achieve it? Where is it? When will it be? What can it be? How to get there?


Instead of running to be first, give all our best in our work and process.
Whatever the end; the important lies on our means.
Improving and innovating is the key to sustain our existence.
People who fail to see their enemy are deemed to lose their position.
Being first means that we need to work harder to make the gap bigger with second and third.

~Wilson Wijaya, Lee/12 June 2012~

Be Happy VS Full of Plan

Be Happy VS Full of PLAN

It's been a long time since I post my last blog entry (June 2011).
Today is a joyous occasion for me since I found out that there is one person who read and gain benefit from my blog entry.
I feel blessed and happy for that one person.

"If only one person read my entry and gain benefit from it, I will not stop write on my blog"

~Wilson Wijaya, Lee 2012~

I will try my best from now on to keep my blog alive though I don't know what to write to you guys.

Well for today, for the beginning of my new entry I would like to talk about being happy and live life full of plan.

Yesterday, my friend commented my photo on facebook:
"Hey Son, where are you now? Seem like enjoying life?"

Then my replied:

"Life must be enjoyed wherever we are dear :)"

This morning I gave my one cent of advice to my "child":
"Let's see how it goes and just let it flow"

Then my "child" replied to me:
"Cannot be, everything must be planned. I'm not that type of person. Without plan everything will be mess. If plan A fail, there is plan B."

Me: "It suits you very much."

My "child": "Yup"

It makes me wonder how we should enjoy our life and be happy about it.
Should we go with the flow or everything must be planned and on the list.
I personally not a type who like to plan everything though I also don't like to go without plan.
For me there is a limit to how I plan my life.
Though plan is very important to make sure that we know exactly where we are going, not all plan will go as we planned.

In life there are forces (if you don't believe in GOD) that sometimes "disturb" our list from A to Z.
Unfortunately we only can plan but the result depends on so many factors.
For example: I plan to have a  bright life, high status, and wonderful family.
However in pursuing that I stumble with unemployment.
I can't see to have family in near future.
There is always problem with my family; big or small.
My dad passed away before he can see my graduation.
My life didn't go as my plan :(

Actually having plan is good to some limits (IMHO).
We can plan what we want, where we go, how we do it, who will help it, when we achieve it, and so on.
With the exact list from A to Z our life is structured and arrange properly.
Go to school till high school, than enter university, graduate with good Honors, find high paid job, having family, then have bright and wonderful children, and so on.
We can list and plan everything and we can go deeper by having sub-plan in each big plan.
Life is like schedule and deadline to meet.
We are challenged by ourselves to meet the target and achieve the greatest.

On the other hand, don't you think it is a hectic life; life with all plan.
Don't you want to have freedom; free to do anything, free to have anything, free to get anything.
Our society have value of freedom with responsibility.
Free-thinker is seen as outcast and freak.
But I think it's good to some extent to have no plan at all.
Let life give you its own surprise and find different thing in every corner.
So many great achievements are resulted from not planned experiments.
While walking in the garden, Newton saw apple fallen form the tree.
Archimedes was having bath up when he then thought about the water coming out.
And the rest is only history.

At the end the decision is in your hand.
It's your life and you know yourself  best than anyone else (unless you believe in GOD again).
Whether you want to live your life freely or you want everything listed from A to Z.
Decision is yours and no one, including me, can choose for you.
My piece of advise is live your life as you wanted not as people told you.
If you want to have no plan at all, please with all means do so.
If you want to have plan and control of your life, please kindly make a good one.

Some turn may need plan for you to get success.
Other turn don't need any plan to surprise you.
Both surprise and plan make our life more colorful and brighter.

I just want to end my entry with my quote:

"Have plan in your life, make a good one. However let the result turn out by itself. Let some surprise find you in your way."  ~Wilson Wijaya, Lee/ 28 May 2012~

Exam/Relax = Stress

Some of you may be surprised to find the title of the note.
Some of you may find this is ridiculous that I write a note just 24 hours before my first exam.
Well, let me clear the air.
This note is dedicated to all of us (having exam or not) who are facing stress in our life.
I feel pity to some of us who are troubled to control their degree of stress.
It includes me in the list.

I believe most of us know the meaning of stress.
Everyone has their own meaning of stress.
Some of us can take higher degree of stress as normal level,
while the others can't do that.
Hence I will not talk much about the stress itself.
In fact I'll talk more about the before and after effect of it.

During this exam period, I know the "kiasu" level increases exponentially.
And the relaxation/entertainment decreases in same way or more extreme.
(Well for some it isn't effected)
Hence the stress-meter tells us that we are at the level of almost break down.
Furthermore, the force to ourselves to get good grade (GPA) 5 makes it worse.
The combination of these make body as boiling machine that almost explodes due to the pressure.

The simple formula of for stress/pressure:
Pressure = Force / Area

In this case, pressure is our stress, force is our workload, and area is our body, mind, and mental.
As we know our workload is a constant.
Well you can't say that you only want to take one from seven examinations.
In addition the ECA, feeling, and relationship make the force bigger.
The area is a variable but under control.
You can't change it as you wish to a very large amount.
(Well you can't make your brain bigger).

Hence if we substitute the value to our formula we get:
Stress= (Exam+ECA+Feeling+Relation

ship) / (Body+Mind+Mental)

From this we can derive that:
1. If we don't have exam/ECA/feeling/relationship, our stress will decrease or better 0.
2. If we have bigger mind/mental/brain/body, our stress will decrease.

Is it possible to achieve the ideal condition? It's not theory calculation. It's experimental.

From my experience and observation, I suggest some of my idea:

1. Reduce the force/workload
Well it doesn't mean you have to take lesser subject (21->19). Yes, you can if you want.
What I suggest that you make your own study strategy. Don't copy others.
Please do you think if you follow A+ student so you'll become like them?
Our brain is a wonderful safety box. It can keep a huge number of memory.
But be careful that the memory is not kept in short term memory.
Make your own schedule/agenda. Plan well.

2. Improve your Body, Mental, and Mind
How to improve? You are the one that can answer it.
You know yourself better than others, don't you?
Exercise, do sport but don't over do it.
Keep positive thinking, if you already said to yourself that you're stupid, useless, and failure,
you'll be what you said. Hypnotize yourself with good and encouraging words.
Yes you can! Fighting! Be positive! I can make it!
Take time to relax and do stuffs that you like; games, facebook, singing, reading, dancing, etc.

It sounds repetitive and classic but it's TRUE.
As I said in my earlier note, BALANCING is the important aspect in life.
When you can balance everything, you life will mostly perfect. (I don't dare to say perfect).
This what we tend to forget. Balance your life well.
So it' doesn't mean that you study like crazy.
And also it doesn't mean that you play like crazy.
Remember BALANCE.

From the art of war, know yourself before the enemy.
Conquer yourself to conquer others.
It's true and applicable from times to times.
What is your strength? What is your weakness?
How does your strength help you in exam?
How does your weakness pull you down in exam?
What can you do to make your weakness be your strength?

Now let's share your experiences and ideas.
How do you handle your stress?
How do we make our life to be balance?
Leave comment as references for others.

Nothing is PERFECT

Can you get 100% pure gold?
Can you get 100% pure kindness?
Can you get 100% pure love?

Some of you know the answer, NO.
I'm not a typical dreamer who dreams about finding a true love.
That's why all Disney story is very popular.
They sell dream to the children, a dream about perfect world, ideal word.

BUT, too bad, there is no such ideal/perfect world in our real world.
This is not a Disney world where everything ends up happily ever after.
A typical ending for all Disney classic story.
They change everything and fix it to our imagination of world.
A true love, a perfect world, where good conquer bad.

A pure gold can't stand for itself. It's too soft to be used.
That's why when you go to the shop you may be find 99% but not 100%.
A pure love can't stand for itself. It's too fragile, easily break.
That's why when you have it you need to take extra caution about it.
A true kindness can't stand for itself. It's too beautiful to be true.
That's why there is no trust you always wonder a true motive behind something.

Have you wondered why God never created something as perfect?
If you say human is prefect, there will be no dead.
If you say flower is perfect, there will be no fading.
If you say life is perfect, there will be no sadness and trouble.

People always argue that this will make us strong.
This will tamper us to be a tough man.
That's true, this imperfectness makes us a strong human.
This will shape us into a strong human being.

If all is perfect, then human is just lazy and usefulness creature.
If all is perfect, we are just a cry baby and never be an adult.
If all is perfect, I will not learn new thing every second I breath.

Because we are imperfect, we can know each other and be social individual.
We help each other to cover our own imperfectness or defect.
Like gold need other to make it strong, we can't stand by ourselves.

But don't depend too much on other people. That's another human mistake.
Since we are not perfect then let other to complete us, fill us.
It's wrong. I don't agree with that statement.
Since I'm not perfect, I need to pursue my perfectness.
Even though I know I'll never be perfect but I always try to be perfect.
Live my life in perfect mode.
Love like perfect love.
Be kind as no reason to do it.

We are just God's creation and result of social evolution.
Yes, it's true BUT it's not reason we can't be perfect.
Perfectness is just mere standard made by ourselves.

How do you know whether you are perfect or not?
You ask other to mark you.
You look through yourself and mark yourself.
You follow society requirement to be perfect.

My friend, live your life to the fullest.
Have no regret when the time comes.
Try everything while you can and never look back.
That's your standard of perfectness.