the Beauty of Solah

salam folks,

1. happy Chap Goh Meh, and happy Thaipusam to all Chinese & Indians :)

2. and most importantly, peace and love to our Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) - let's follow his footsteps, and for sure, we'd end up being a better Muslim. :)

3. for record, i have been talking a lot in my previous posts in regards of being productive individuals; and i believe, those who're interested in self-improvement study would find many other theories related to this particular topic.

4. for Warren Buffet, he suggested us to see ourselves as a business entity - hence, he encourages us to invest a lot of "time & money" for our self-growth. (see his book on "Warren Buffet's Management Secrets: Proven Tools for Personal and Business Success")

5. Stephen Covey, meanwhile, in  his book, "7 Habits of Highly Effective People," prefers characteristic rather than personality building. for him, for oneself to be successful, he must first change his paradigm of life - how he sees things, for example.he also rejects the idea of "quick-fix."

6. for this post, i'd like to share some tips found in the Holy Koran (from Surah Al-Mokminoon). based on my quick reading, i found there're about at least 6 characteristics of successful person mentioned. and they're as follows:

• khusyuk dalam solah
• jauh dari perbuatan & perkataan sia-sia
• bersihkan harta (zakat harta)
• jaga kehormatan (except to his wife & servant)
• jaga amanah & janji
• pelihara sembahyang

(note: i follow the sequence mentioned in the Koran)

7. and it's crystal clear that Solah is one of the key things to become a better person (mentioned first and last); in writing class, we're usually told to "save the best for last," right? so, based on this knowledge, i'd assume that Allah has put solah as a paramount element towards becoming a successful person.

8. and honestly speaking, how does Solah change our lives? we pray five times a day, and 365 days a year.. yet, most of the times, we still don't feel the presence of Allah while praying..if that was the case, how could Solah do any good to us, right?

9. so, the first step to get the "feel" is to understand of all words uttered in the Solah. i believe, most of use know the meaning of Al-Fatihah, right? so, i'd like to share the "rare" one, which is "bacaan duduk antara dua sujud"

"Ketika dalam "duduk di antara dua sujud."

Dalam tidak sedar, setiap hari kita memohon didalam solat kita..tetapi sayangnya, kita hanya memohon tanpa memahami, sekadar tersebut dibibir, tetapi tidak tersentuh dari hati kita selama ini. 

Marilah kita mula menghayati ketika kita duduk di antara dua sujud semasa solat. 

Dengan rendah hati nyatakanlah permohonan ampun kepada Allah.. 

Rabbighfirli.. (Tuhanku, ampuni aku..)

Diamlah sejenak, buka dada dan diri kita untuk menerima ampunan dari Allah seperti membuka diri ketika merasakan hembusan angin sepoi-sepoi atau menerima curahan air hujan ketika kita masih kecil Tetaplah membuka diri kita untuk menerima ampunan Allah.  Ulangi permintaan itu beberapa kali hingga kita merasakan ketenangan. 

Kemudian sampaikanlah permintaan kedua, 

Warhamni.. (Sayangi aku..) 

Diam dan tundukkanlah diri kita untuk menerima kasih-sayang Allah yang tak terhitung besarnya.  Bukalah dada kita seluas-luasnya agar semakin banyak kasih-sayang Allah yang kita terima.  Ulanglah beberapa kali hingga kita merasa cukup. Berturut-turut sampaikanlah permintaan2 berikut dengan cara sebagaimana tersebut di atas, satu persatu. 

Wajburnii..  (Tutuplah aib-aibku..) 

Warfa'nii..   (Angkatlah darjatku..) 

Warzuqnii.. (Berilah aku rezeki..) 

Wahdinii..    (Berilah aku petunjuk..) 

Wa'Aafinii.. (Sihatkan aku..) 

Wa'fuannii..(Maafkan aku..) 

Setelah selesai, diamlah sejenak lalu sampaikan rasa syukur kita. Betapa besarnya nilai sebuah doa ini..sebuah doa yang kita hanya lewatkan begitu sahaja.. Dalam tidak kita sedar selama ini kita seperti sedang berpura-pura memohon sesuatu. Sebaik-baik manusia ialah orang yang dapat memberi manfaat kepada orang lain (Hadis riwayat Al-Qudhi). "

  source:http://halaqah.net/v10/index.php?topic=12766.0

10. masha-Allah, if we could understand the whole meaning, Solah would be as if we're talking to Allah..and it will no longer be a boring ritual..let's spread the beauty of Islam, folks! :)

Play to WIN!

salam folks,

1. finally, i'm now connected to internet, after barely a week living "offline!" nowadays, being able to go online isn't a privilege but a must! only God knows, how many opportunities i had missed for this whole week

2. anyway, for this entry, i'd like to share some tips i've learnt from my good buddy this week. to make things easier/simpler/more readable, let me put them in bullet form. so, the lessons (which i believe are important, and hence worth to be shared) are as follows:

• LESSON#1: when it comes to investing, everybody must have a right mindset, which is "INVEST TO WIN"
• i used to think that investing is sorta hedging my money from inflation. this means, my investing strategy is to find any unit trust, that can promise me higher ROI (return of investment) as compared to inflation rate
• e.g. let's assume that inflation rate increases 3% annually. so, by rights, any unit trust that offers  >3% annual ROI is sufficient.
• plus, since i didn't invest to win, i was more risk-averse. i prefer to dump my money on any unit trust that can pay consistently high annual dividend. this is a def a mistake..but why? normally, if you never tried to break from your safe zone, u'd end up nothing! 

• LESSON#2: nowadays, there's no such "FREE LUNCH"
• if you're a business major, u, for sure, know about this -"i'll give you something for something!"
• seeking advice from your parents/immediate family in regards to investing is a mistake - parents normally try to protect you from any harms..so, u'd end up in the same loop - "safe loop"
• yeah, nowadays, u can easily find many "winning" tips in internet, which most of them looks real. the first thing you should ask is whether the person is rich or not..if not, then, (s)he is just bullshitting you! if the tips are damn good, why (s)he doesn't apply them in the first place and become rich, right? make sense?

• LESSON#3: there's no such "SMOOTH RIDING" in today's life
• as an engineer, i personally prefer graph, table, or any sorts of data..in other words, no data, no talk! as much as this philosophy is great in term of work, it's not necessary right when it comes to investment. why? simple - men are crazy..no matter how many data you have, or how good the pattern is, men's behavior is simply unpredictable, especially the investors..they like speculation..and the worst, they make decision based on it..
• so, the right way to find your best equity is to go for fundamental analysis - you should understand their business models, their management teams, their financial track record for past few years, industry there're involved in, and etc..in other words, you should know everything about them..but, this is, of course, a tedious work..nobody likes it..
• then, when you decide your best equity, have faith on them..don't expect them to perform all the times..in any business cycle, there're ups and downs..so, don't expect to have a smooth riding in this world since there's none!

• LESSON#4: let's do it!
• the first step is always the hardest..so, create your inner circle..normally, working in a group is much easier than to be "one-man" show.
• for fresh grads, this is the best time to start...why? because you don't have responsibility yet! when u have a wife or kids, things would be a bit more difficult to begin! so, let's START now!

Re-prioritize

salam folks,

1. in my previous post, i've shared some tips on developing productive rituals (i hope it works for all of you)

2. but, building those rituals alone is not enough

3. with way many distractions surround us, (e.g. facebook, emails, etc.) we really need a sorta mechanism to keep us focus!

4. so for this entry, i'd like to share some tips to re-prioritize our lives.

5. according to following article, http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2012/01/no-is-the-new-yes-four-practic.html, there're four important steps to have more "intentional" life:

• Schedule in our calendar things that are important, but not really urgent:
• normally, we'd overlook on things that aren't urgent. as a  results, we end up completing those tasks at the very last minute. so, putting those in our calendar would make us more aware!
• Set aside sufficient time to 'reflect' and to 'plan'
• this's normally the most difficult/daunting thing to do. as time is precious, some may argue that reflecting on the past is unnecessary, or to the extend is wasteful. but, it's actually very important for us to re-asses all things that we've done all day long - e.g. what we've been accomplished, what haven't, and why we couldn't finish this and that, etc.
• then, after understanding all problems that hinder us from accomplishing some things, we really need to move onto "tomorrow's plan."  this is very crucial so to ensure that we're not piling our problems day by day. 
• Do VIT (very important thing) first in the morning - 
• typically, we're more productive, and less distracted in the morning. as suggested by the author of this article, we should turn off emails, internet (for those who don't need internet to work), and our cell phone (it's like isolating yourself)
• Take some breaks
• one in the morning, and one in the noon
• for Muslims, we're encouraged to perform solat sunat Dhuha! why? it's time for us to relax, and re-energize our soul! ;)

6. let's re-prioritize, folks! ;)

Developing Productive Rituals

salam folks,

1. happy CNY to all of you - may all of us have a wonderful & prosperous year ahead; fortunately, this year  i didn't see (or hear) any new "fatwa" on fb that prohibits the Muslims from wishing their Chinese counterparts a happy new year! 

2. plus, i've confirmed with some of my Chinese colleagues that CNY has nothing to do with religious ritual - indeed, it's more like a Chinese tradition. and as far as i'm concerned, Islam has never stopped us from celebrating other's tradition..so, i rest my case here! ;)

3. anyway, recently, i've watched a very good talk on "developing productive rituals" posted in HBR Blog Network! the gist of the talk are listed as follows:

How to develop productive rituals:

• Keep specific bedtime (this is to guarantee your body having enough rest)
• Prioritize one key task each day (i usually list down things i wanna accomplish for that particular day before i start doing my work)
• List new ideas (i used to keep all crazy ideas at the back of my head. at the end, i keep forgetting them.so, documenting your new ideas could be the best solution)
• Question when triggered! (a popular Descartes' statement, "Dubito, Ergo Cogito, Ergo Sum"  - I doubt, therefore i think, therefore i am..for me, to question thing is a way to innovation)

4. Anyway, you can watch the full video at the following link http://blogs.hbr.org/video/2012/01/develop-productivity-rituals.html

2012

salam folks,

1. i wish it's not too late for me to wish all of you a happy new year - 2012, according to Chinese Lunar Calendar, is a year of "water dragon."  ;)

2. as for me, a new year is nothing rather than myself getting a year older! unlike previous years, for 2012,  i hadn't set any new year's resolution.

3. but, as some of you may realize, i have changed the title of this blog; from "against all odd" to simply "making things happen!"

4. fyi, this change is not merely a name change so that it would sound more mature or catchy - it's indeed a change in my paradigm of life.

5. if in my previous posts, my focus was merely on the question of "WHY," i hope in my future articles, i'd be able to go a bit deeper by tackling the "HOW" kinda question

6. it has come to my realization that, theory itself is valueless if there's no feasible solution.

7. as my mentor telling me, learning new things is indeed very good. but, the more important part is  how could you translate all your knowledge into actions. and i believe, it's the most trickiest and daunting part ever! ;)

8. and guys, if i had to make a wish for 2012, it'd be simply for me to MAKE THINGS (i like) HAPPEN!

TQ

Poning

eden poning kaplo! too many unpredictable things happened recently. so, nah, dgrlah lagu feberet eden;

p/s: enjoy the song, folks! ;p