Inspiring Excellence » Motivation

PRODUCTS OF THE PAST

Francis Kong — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:23:39 +0000

A teacher arranged her young students into a circle. She then went around the circle and asked each one a question.
“Robert, what sound does a cow make?”
Robert replied, “It goes ‘moo.’”
“Albert, what sound does a cat make?”
Albert said, “It goes ‘meow.’”
“Oscar, what sound does a lamb make?”
Oscar said, “It goes ‘baaa.’”
“Noel, what sound does a mouse make?”
Noel paused, and said, “Uhh … it goes … ‘click…click!’”
This is the age of technology
There was a time when mouse used to be a rodent and windows were fixtures inside your home. Today you have mouse, wireless mouse, mouse that operates with radio frequency, track pads is replacing the mice. Disruptive technology is here to stay. There was a time when it took a long time before a new product is accepted in the market place. Today the market eagerly awaits the launching of the next big thing in technology
I was giving a seminar then and people began to smile, some were giggling and a lot more of them began laughing. I asked, “What’s going on?” One brave soul responded and said, “Francis, you said we need to read books and we need to listen to tapes. But nobody listens to tapes anymore.” “Oh boy, “ I told myself, caught in a time warp. How could I have missed that?
After giving a talk, one lady approached me and said, “Francis I love your talk. Have you recorded it in a cassette?” “Cassette?” I half smiled but that’s exactly what happened to me. The only difference is that I said, “Tape.”
This makes me think. What has happened to the products of the past? The hits? The wonders? The breakthrough technology that made the world marveled? Products like:
The video recorder? (Circa 1983) The one with the flashing 12:00? Never figured out what that function was for anyway.
Brick (circa 1990) – I remember my first cell phone was a phone named ANTEL. Compare the size of that today to the newer ones my first cell phone was as small as my Coleman Water Jug. You charge the battery for 8 hours and you get to use it for only 2.
Cloning (same time) – The biggest worry at that time was not virus but cloning in an Analog platform not digital.
Let’s go back – way back. Remember phones had party-lines and you fight them all the time?
What about Caller ID (circa 1995) – Staring at a number that came in and you shock the callers by knowing it was them.
And for those who first saw the light in a hospital after 1990, a quick fad then was called the DAT. DAT stands for Digital Audio Tape. Sony Corporation introduced this in the mid-1980’s. This replaced the old cassettes that really lasted many years.
And the CD’s came into the picture and is now losing ground to Ipods and MP3 Players. A couple of years back I remember entering the last 2 days of Tower Record’s existence in America and everything in there was sold for just $2 and less. Today online music purchasing gains momentum everyday.
My son plays the drums for a popular band. He says that their first hit became a hit without a CD. It was placed on line and people here and even in places as far as Belgium and Germany listened to it.
Products of the past. I wonder why as I think about them the same products bring back memories of events tied to the same.
And what about future products?
I read about scientists and researchers developing the next generation paper battery. A supercharged battery that can be bent, rolled, twisted and cut to size like a piece of paper. It looks like the next great thing; a breakthrough technology which becomes today’s hit would in a short span of time quickly turn into tomorrow’s museum piece.
May I make a suggestion? Don’t be too much of a hurry in having to HAVE that new toy. You spend a great deal for it and then a few months later that “new” thing will be left with just the “thing” when the novelty of newness is gone. Just because you are using an old cell phone does not mean you’re second-class and old. It may mean you are frugal and practical that’s all.
Somebody says: “The world is getting complicated. Somebody just gave me a battery operated paperweight.” And you’re probably asking, “Paperweight? What’s that?”
Don’t let technology complicate your life. Live it simply but live it to the full. With or even without the latest technology.

Share and Enjoy

• Facebook • Twitter • Delicious • Digg • Google Buzz • StumbleUpon • Add to favorites • Email • RSS

ANGER

Francis Kong — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:49:09 +0000

What does it take to turn a person into a Judas? What motivates someone to betray deep-seated loyalties? Unresolved anger and resentment, for one thing. Consider the story of Earl Pitts, FBI agent turned Soviet spy.

According to Evan Thomas in Newsweek, Pitts was raised on a farm in Missouri and was recognized as a Future Farmer of America. His parents said they disciplined him firmly but fairly. He was a captain in the army who regarded himself as a patriot. Even today he is described by his wife as a “good man.”

So what happened?

After getting his law degree and serving as a military policeman for six years, in 1983 Pitts realized a lifelong ambition by going to work for the FBI. In 1987 he was assigned to the New York office, and there his troubles began. He did not see how he could afford to live in the Big Apple on his $25,000 a year salary.

Thomas writes, “Morale in the office was poor, and petty cheating on expense accounts was rampant. Burdened with debt from student loans, Pitts had to ask his father for a loan. He felt humiliated. Pitts later told a psychiatrist that he was ‘overwhelmed’ by a sense of rage at the FBI.”

One morning he came up with the idea of spying for the KGB. That way he could kill two birds with one stone: he could solve his money problems and get back at his bosses. He later told a psychiatrist, “I was shoved by the bureaucracy, and I shoved back.”

Over the next seven years Pitts worked as a Soviet spy and for his services received $224,000. When he was finally caught and convicted, the judge sentenced him to twenty-seven years in prison. At his sentencing the judge asked him point-blank why he had become a traitor. Earl Pitts replied, “I gave in to an unreasonable anger. ”

Never allow anger to fester. Deal with anger as God prescribes.

Here is another story:

Shirley Belleranti shows the negative impact of anger on our most important relationships:

I remember one summer day when my ten-year-old son and a friend were getting a pitcher of lemonade from the refrigerator. I’d spent hours that morning scrubbing, waxing, and polishing the kitchen floor, so I warned the boys not to spill anything. They tried so hard to be careful that they innocently bumped a tray of eggs on the door shelf. Of course, it fell, splattering eggs all over my clean floor.

The boys’ eyes widened with alarm as I exploded angrily. “Get out of here now!” I shouted, while they headed for the door. By the time I’d finished cleaning up the mess, I had calmed down. To make amends, I set a tray of cookies on the table, along with the pitcher of lemonade and some glasses. But when I called the boys, there was no answer—they’d gone somewhere else to play, somewhere where my angry voice wouldn’t reach them.

Anger separates us from those we want to be near. Anger shatters intimacy.

It sure does.

Do not let the sun go down on your anger that’s what the Bible has to say because the Author know the stuff we are made of. God has given us a mind to use and we need to use that mind to educate our moods.

I sure appreciate the fact that God does not blow His top the way I do.

It takes a lot of discipline to be able to deal with anger emotions but we simply have to deal with it correctly.

Just remember this. Anger can sure be an expensive luxury. And we simply can’t afford it.

Share and Enjoy

• Facebook • Twitter • Delicious • Digg • Google Buzz • StumbleUpon • Add to favorites • Email • RSS

Mastery and Discipline (video)

Francis Kong — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:42:27 +0000

Transcription of the video:

I wanna talk to you about mastery. Have you ever heard of Yo-Yo Ma for cello, Itzhak Perlman for violin, and all of these guys that we look up to? You know what? Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers says the magic number is 10,000 hours of practice. Practice, practice, practice. There’s a word for that, it’s called Discipline. Now, I have never met any successful businessman or professional or anybody else who has gotten to the place where they are today and we look up to them without going through the same process.

Now lets talk about mastery and discipline. What are they? They are interconnected. You cannot have one without the other. In other words, you schedule yourself, you go through the chores, you go through the things you may not like to do but you got to do. And then you build up to the level of expertise. Discipline is key to mastery. Don’t you forget that.

Share and Enjoy

• Facebook • Twitter • Delicious • Digg • Google Buzz • StumbleUpon • Add to favorites • Email • RSS

MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL

Francis Kong — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:35:32 +0000

Mirror Mirror on the Wall is a story adapted by Louis Lapides from Still More Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks, Wayne Rice, and it carries a potent lesson we all must learn. Listen to this.
A scientific researcher assembled ten unsuspecting volunteers for a psychological study called the Scar Experiment. The participants were separated into ten different cubicles equipped without mirrors. The purpose of the study was to observe how people would respond to a stranger with a marred physical appearance, such as a facial scar.
Using Hollywood makeup tricks, the scientist put bloody and gruesome scars on each volunteer’s left cheek, and displayed the new “scar” to each participant using a small handheld mirror. After glancing at their marred image, the mirror was taken away.
The researcher’s final step was to inform each volunteer that some finishing powder needed to be placed on his/her scar to prevent it from smearing. In reality, the researcher used a tissue to wipe off the scar. But the volunteers still believed they had the awful scars on their faces.
Each individual was sent out into the waiting rooms of different medical offices with instructions to notice how strangers responded to their appearance. After the appointed time, the ten volunteers returned to the scientific researcher and all shared the same report. In their encounters they noticed that strangers were ruder to them, less kind and stared at their scar. Regardless of the removal of the false scars, their unhealthy perspective on themselves affected how they thought others saw them.
In contrast, the scars and pain we carry inside us are hardly ever obvious to everyone on the outside. We make them visible by our actions towards others. If we see ourselves as unlovable, worthless and defective, we will often respond towards individuals in an unloving, insecure and discouraging manner. Meaningful and trusting relationships become very difficult to form.
It is surprising to learn a positive self image does not come from how we look on the outside, but on how we feel on the inside. In order to have a lasting, healthy view of self, we must base our worth upon God’s unconditional love and value of us.
King David sings, “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous-and how well I know it!” (Psalm 139:14) (NLT). Through a personal relationship with our Creator, we can find healing of those inner scars and deep wounds that hinder us from enjoying fulfilling relationships. There is no need to worry about what other people think of us when we know God has already placed His highest worth on our lives.
Do you have scars in your life?
I am sure you have as I have and not only that.
Life can be cruel. Adversities come. Friends you love and trusted betray you, business partners you work with for so many years cheat you but those scars can be laid down at the feet of Christ.
I have news for you. You and I have scarred Christ too with the many sins we’ve committed. Yet He forgives us. Receive His forgiveness so we may learn to forgive others and most importantly learn to forgive ourselves.
Elmer Lehman says: “We have been forgiven by God much more than we have ever been accused by others.” But my favorite author Max Lucado says it even more clearly: God doesn’t just forgive, he forgets. He erases the board. He destroys the evidence. He burns the microfilm. He clears the computer.
Mirror Mirror on the wall? Never forget this lesson.

[1] story adapted by Louis Lapides from Still More Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks, Wayne Rice, Zondervan Publishing House. Pg. 79.)

Share and Enjoy

• Facebook • Twitter • Delicious • Digg • Google Buzz • StumbleUpon • Add to favorites • Email • RSS

Francis Kong — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:55:55 +0000

Charles Sheldon says:”Good resolutions are like babies crying in church. They should be carried out immediately.”
Rather than doing New Year’s resolutions, do “Daily Resolves” instead. It’s the daily DISCIPLINE of doing what you resolve to do every day for the rest of the year; and the rest of your life that counts.

Share and Enjoy

• Facebook • Twitter • Delicious • Digg • Google Buzz • StumbleUpon • Add to favorites • Email • RSS

Francis Kong — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:31:03 +0000

With respect you entered your work place with respect you depart when you resign. Do not burn bridges. Don’t bad mouth your company or your previous bosses even if they deserve it. They may be your customers in the future. In business, yesterday’s enemy is very often tomorrow’s friend.”

My first boss would still buy me a cup of coffee every time we meet. It’s a wonderful experience.

Share and Enjoy

• Facebook • Twitter • Delicious • Digg • Google Buzz • StumbleUpon • Add to favorites • Email • RSS

LIFE LITTLE DESTRUCTION BOOK

Francis Kong — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:34:17 +0000

There is this cute little book entitled Life’s Little Instruction Book and it is a good one. Sold many copies. But what intrigued me was a guy named Charles Sherwood Dane who came out with an article entitled: Life’s Little Destruction Book.”. And I want to share this with you.[1] But I will add some comments and revise it a little to fit our local context.

In essence, what the article is saying that these are the things you can do in order to destroy your life:

Take the hotel towels home.
Pay tolls with P1,000.00 bills.
Practice the art of limp handshakes and let people shaking your hands feel like they are holding on to a dead fish.
Tell the ending of movies.
Give little kids clothes for their birthdays.
Leave the toilet seat up.
Take more than 10 items to the express checkout lane.
Turn on your bright for oncoming traffic.
Finish other people’s crossword puzzles.
Use the last square of toilet paper.
Tailgate the elderly.
Drum your fingers during other people’s presentations.
Blow out other people’s birthday candles.
Don’t leave a message at the beep.
Leave your supermarket cart on the street or in the parking lot.
Block the entrances of elevators, buses, and subways.
Eat produce at the market; don’t buy it.
When giving directions, leave out a turn or two.
Toss things out the window: tissues, cigarettes, cellophane food wrappings and those sorts of things.
Leave the outdoor Christmas decorations up until March or April.
Serve corn on the cob to people with dentures.
See if you can be the first one off the plane, even if you are sitting by the window.
Put a title like Senator or Doctor before your name when making dinner and hotel reservations.
Before exiting the elevator, push all the buttons.
Go up the down escalator.
Develop at least three strategies for cutting into the front of lines.
Snap your gum.
Squeeze the toothpaste from the top, and while you’re at it, leave the cap off.
Open umbrellas in crowded hallways.
Announce when you’re going to the bathroom.
Read over other people’s shoulders on the bus.
When it says, “Reserved Parking”, this means you.
Pinch all the chocolate candies until you find the one you want.
Leave your pantyhose hanging in the shower.
Chew other people’s pencils.
Let doors slam behind you — in other people’s faces.
Tell teenagers how things were in your day.
Hold the elevator until you have finished your conversation.
Pee in the swimming pool.
Ride on the shoulder until you pass all the jammed traffic; then cut in.
Wear large hats during the movies.
Race the old woman for the last bus seat.
Draw mustaches on posters.
Walk very slowly, and make sure nobody can get past you.
Touch strangers.
Bite your dentist’s finger.
Let off gas in cramped places.
Leave lipstick prints on people’s cheeks and foreheads.
Don’t stand during hymns and anthems.
Dance fast to slow music and vice-versa.
Leave pages in the copier.
Be “in conference” all the time.
Buy it, wear it, return it.
Tell people they have bad breath.
Eat out with friends and “forget” your wallet.
Put everyone on speakerphone.
Step on the back of the shoe of the person in front of you.
Rain on someone’s parade.
Make scary faces at babies.
Flirt with a friend’s spouse.

There’s plenty more but we don’t have time.

Here’s the thing. There is a big difference between education and culture. Some people are educated but they do not have culture.

This is why you need to be kind to bacteria. To many people I know…they are the only kind of culture they have.

Learn to be tactful…sensitive and kind.

But the best way to attract people is to be Christ-like. Read His story in the Bible.

He showed love all the time. And that’s the reason why it’s been many years now…and there are still so many who are attracted to Him. Include me in the list.

God bless you.

[1] TAKEN FROM “LIFE’S LITTLE DESTRUCTION BOOK” BY CHARLES SHERWOOD DANE

Share and Enjoy

• Facebook • Twitter • Delicious • Digg • Google Buzz • StumbleUpon • Add to favorites • Email • RSS

Listening

Francis Kong — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:02:13 +0000

John Maxwell says “Most people overvalue talking and undervalue listening, even those in people-related jobs such as sales. But the truth is effective communication is not persuasion. It’s listening … listen twice as much as you speak.” Too many people love the sound of their own voice with no one interested at all. God has given us two ears and one mouth so we could listen more and speak less.

Share and Enjoy

• Facebook • Twitter • Delicious • Digg • Google Buzz • StumbleUpon • Add to favorites • Email • RSS

CHANGE WHAT YOU ARE AND CHANGE WHAT YOU GET

Francis Kong — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:59:54 +0000

What is your philosophy in life?

This does not mean that you have to be a philosopher but you and I live with our own philosophies and our philosophy in life will determine for us our destiny for success or failure.

Oliver Goldsmith says: “There is nothing so absurd or ridiculous that has not at some time been said by some philosopher.”

Listen to this crazy philosophy from an unknown philosopher. He says:

Over the years, I have engaged in considerable deep thought about (among other things): Our place in the universe, ancient civilizations, human migrations, international conflicts, local and world economics, ozone depletion, the human genome, cloning, pollution, racism, local and world politics, population growth, extinctions, natural disasters, the environment, health care, the Internet, human relations, the space-time continuum and other aspects of relativity, and other factors that affect mankind’s struggle to exist.

After all of that deep thought, I have arrived at this conclusion: When all is said and done, in spite of or because of what we may or may not do or think, it is just as likely as not that, for better or for worse, everything will turn out one way or another, sooner or later.

Sounds profound but means absolutely nothing.

But the truth is that a sound philosophy for life will bring about a better life.

Listen to what the late popular speaker Jim Rohn has to say about the challenge of life. It’s a philosophy for success. Jim says:

Here’s the great challenge of life – You can have more than you’ve got because you can become more than you are.

I have found that income seldom will exceed your own personal development. Once in a while income takes a lucky jump, but unless you grow out to where it is it will go back to where you are.

Somebody once said if you took all the money in the world and divided it among everyone equally, it would soon be back in the same pockets. However, you can have more because you can become more. You see, here is how the other side of the coin reads – unless you change how you are, you will always have what you’ve got. The marketing plan won’t do it. It’s a good plan but it won’t work without you. You’ve got to work it. It is the human effort that counts. If you could send a sales manual out to recruit – wouldn’t that be lovely? The major thing that makes the difference is what YOU do.

In order to have more, you need to become more.

The guy says “If I had a good job I would really pour it on, but I have this lousy job so I just goof off.” If that is your philosophy you are destined to stay there. Some people say if I had a lot of money I would be really generous, but I don’t have much so I’m not generous.

See, you’ve got to change that philosophy or you will never have “the lots of money”. Unless YOU change, IT won’t change.

Amazingly, however, when we throw out our blame list and start becoming more ourselves – the difference is everything else will begin to change around us.

My philosophy changed when I discovered the Bible.

Blessed is he who does not walk in the counsel of the jerks and losers, stand in the path of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers…but in the Bible he meditates day and night…and in what ever he does, he prospers.

The thing is I first need to become more before I can be given more. And this is an irrefutable principle for life.

Share and Enjoy

• Facebook • Twitter • Delicious • Digg • Google Buzz • StumbleUpon • Add to favorites • Email • RSS

CARL’S GARDEN

Francis Kong — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 14:28:14 +0000

From an anonymous author comes this great story.

Carl was a quiet man. He didn’t talk much. He would always greet you with a big smile and a firm handshake. Even after living in our neighborhood for over 50 years, no one could really say they knew him very well.

Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning. The lone sight of him walking down the street often worried us. He had a slight limp from a bullet wound received in WWII. Watching him, we worried that although he had survived WWII, he may not make it through our changing uptown neighborhood with its ever-increasing random violence, gangs, and drug activity.

When he saw the flyer at our local church asking for volunteers for caring for the gardens behind the minister’s residence, he responded in his characteristically unassuming manner. Without fanfare, he just signed up.

He was well into his 87th year when the very thing we had always feared finally happened.

He was just finishing his watering for the day when three gang members approached him. Ignoring their attempt to intimidate him, he simply asked, “Would you like a drink from the hose?” The tallest and toughest-looking of the three said, “Yeah, sure,” with a malevolent little smile. As Carl offered the hose to him, the other two grabbed Carl’s arm, throwing him down. As the hose snaked crazily over the ground, dousing everything in its way, Carl’s assailants stole his retirement watch and his wallet, and then fled.

Carl tried to get himself up, but he had been thrown down on his bad leg.

He lay there trying to gather himself as the minister came running to help him. Although the minister had witnessed the attack from his window, he couldn’t get there fast enough to stop it. “Carl, are you okay? Are you hurt?” the minister kept asking as he helped Carl to his feet. Carl just passed a hand over his brow and sighed, shaking his head.

“Just some punk kids. I hope they’ll wise-up someday.” His wet clothes clung to his slight frame as he bent to pick up the hose. He adjusted the nozzle again and started to water.

Confused and a little concerned, the minister asked, “Carl, what are you doing?”

“I’ve got to finish my watering. It’s been very dry lately,” came the calm reply.

Satisfying himself that Carl really was all right, the minister could only marvel. Carl was a man from a different time and place. A few weeks later the three returned. Just as before their threat was unchallenged. Carl again offered them a drink from his hose.

This time they didn’t rob him. They wrenched the hose from his hand and drenched him head to foot in the icy water. When they had finished their humiliation of him, they sauntered off down the street, throwing catcalls and curses, falling over one another laughing at the hilarity of what they had just done.

Carl just watched them. Then he turned toward the warmth giving sun, picked up his hose, and went on with his watering.

The summer was quickly fading into fall. Carl was doing some tilling when he was startled by the sudden approach of someone behind him. He stumbled and fell into some evergreen branches. As he struggled to regain his footing, he turned to see the tall leader of his summer tormentors reaching down for him. He braced himself for the expected attack.

“Don’t worry old man, I’m not gonna hurt you this time.” The young man spoke softly, still offering the tattooed and scarred hand to Carl. As he helped Carl get up, the man pulled a crumpled bag from his pocket and handed it to Carl.

“What’s this?” Carl asked.

“It’s your stuff,” the man explained. “It’s your stuff back. Even the money in your wallet.”

“I don’t understand,” Carl said. “Why would you help me now?” The man shifted his feet, seeming embarrassed and ill at ease. “I learned something from you,” he said. “I ran with that gang and hurt people like you. We picked you because you were old and we knew we could do it. But every time we came and did something to you, instead of yelling and fighting back, you tried to give us a drink. You didn’t hate us for hating you. You kept showing love against our hate.” He stopped for a moment.

“I couldn’t sleep after we stole your stuff, so here it is back.” He paused for another awkward moment, not knowing what more there was to say.

“That bag’s my way of saying thanks for straightening me out, I guess.”

And with that, he walked off down the street.

Carl looked down at the sack in his hands and gingerly opened it. He took out his retirement watch and put it back on his wrist. Opening his wallet, he checked for his wedding photo. He gazed for a moment at the young bride that still smiled back at him from all those years ago.

He died one cold day after Christmas that winter. Many people attended his funeral in spite of the weather. In particular the minister noticed a tall young man that he didn’t know sitting quietly in a distant corner of the church. The minister spoke of Carl’s garden as a lesson in life. In a voice made thick with unshed tears, he said, “Do your best and make your garden as beautiful as you can. We will never forget Carl and his garden.”

The following spring another flyer went up. It read: “Person needed to care for Carl’s garden.” The flyer went unnoticed by the busy parishioners until one day when a knock was heard at the minister’s office door.

Opening the door, the minister saw a pair of scarred and tattooed hands holding the flyer. “I believe this is my job, if you’ll have me,” the young man said.

The minister recognized him as the same young man who had returned the stolen watch and wallet to Carl. He knew that Carl’s kindness had turned this man’s life around. As the minister handed him the keys to the garden shed, he said, “Yes, go take care of Carl’s garden and honor him.”

The man went to work and, over the next several years, he tended the flowers and vegetables just as Carl had done. In that time, he went to college, got married, and became a prominent member of the community. But he never forgot his promise to Carl’s memory and kept the garden as beautiful as he thought Carl would have kept it.

One day he approached the new minister and told him that he couldn’t care for the garden any longer. He explained with a shy and happy smile, “My wife just had a baby boy last night, and she’s bringing him home on Saturday.”

“Well, congratulations!” said the minister, as he was handed the garden shed keys. “That’s wonderful! What’s the baby’s name?”

“Carl,” he replied.

You know what?

Great story.

You know what?

Carl’s garden bloomed!

Share and Enjoy

• Facebook • Twitter • Delicious • Digg • Google Buzz • StumbleUpon • Add to favorites • Email • RSS