How to be a Kickboxing champ!

I have finished my Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and is moving on to the next book - The 4-hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris. This book is about someone who simplifies his work and life process, and thus have plenty of time at hand to pursue his activities.

As I read the book, I will come across many tips which I will share some with you here in future blog posts. Particularly very interesting is the story of how most of his cold calls never get to the intended person because of gatekeepers (ie. the clerks and secretaries). So he chose to make his calls at 8-8.30am and 6-6.30pm instead of 9am-5pm (when the secretaries were not in office), and ended up getting twice the results for 1/8 of the time.

Anyway, I will leave you with an extract of his book, on how he became a kickboxing champion by playing smart, and staying within the rules. Whether you like his way or not, I must give him some credits for playing "smart".

Cheers, everyone!

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In 1999, sometime after quitting my second unfulfilling job and eating peanut-butter sandwiches for comfort, I won the gold medal at the Chinese Kickboxing National Championships.

It wasn’t because I was good at punching and kicking. God forbid. That seemed a bit dangerous, considering I did it on a dare and had four weeks of preparation. Besides, I have a watermelon head–it’s a big target.

I won by reading the rules and looking for loopholes, of which there were two:

1. Weigh-ins were the day prior to competition: Using dehydration techniques I now teach to elite powerlifters, I lost 28 pounds in 18 hours, weighed in at 165 pounds, and then hyperhydrated back to 193 pounds*. It’s hard to fight someone from three weight classes above you. Poor little guys.

2. There was a technicality in the fine print: If one combatant fell off the elevated platform three times in a single round, his opponent won by default. I decided to use this technicality as my single technique and just push people off. As you might imagine, this did not make the judges the happiest Chinese I’ve ever seen.

The result? I won all my matches by technical knock-out (TKO) and went home national champion, something 99% of those with 5-10 years of experience had been unable to do.

* Most people assume this type of weight manipulation is impossible, so I’ve provided sample photographs at www.fourhourworkweek.com. Do not try this at home. I did it all under medical supervision.

Random Notes 48

Otaru Canal in Hokkaido: Pic stolen from Ikchin.com

(1) Wifey has been doing tons of research on what to wear for our Hokkaido trip in 2 weeks time. Heard the weather there is freezing cold at this time of the year. Will take lots of pics and share with you guys. ^_^

(2) I have completed the first of my four year 2011 resolutions last Friday. It's something that is way overdue, but then again being late is better than never. And I have went to buy 4D with the numbers "3027" to commemorate the event.

(3) Read somewhere that in the freezing cold, if 2 people kiss mouth lip to lip, their lips will get stuck. Time to debunk the myth.

(4) One of my friends was sharing with me about his life working 3 days a week. It really reminds me of this saying "If you are that damn good at doing something, you should be getting paid for it", as opposed to just getting a fixed meagre salary.

(5) What do you do when you spot a hawker selling great food at low prices? How about helping him become a business owner (instead of being a self-employed), and making yourself his business partner?

(6) Salt water as a natural, cheap and effective cure for people with skin diseases. That's what someone on my regular forum says. He claims it worked for his dad and his dog. All hail Mother Nature!

(7) I have a friend who likes to go Facebook and see how her ex-boyfriend is doing. And each time she does that, she becomes demoralised when she starts envying how well he is doing. And thus I call her the moth, she has to stop flying towards the light.

(8) With the Singapore government's recent tightening to combat increasing property prices, it becomes harder for people to get a piece of the "buy and rent/sell" pie. Time to keep the eyes open for other opportunities out there.

(9) I realised that Wifey enjoys helping me pluck out my white hair. She recently plucked about 30 from my head. White hair is fine, it's at least better than a patch with no hair. *blush*

(10) I'm still on track with regular morning jogs. Gonna keep to my side of the bargain to run 21km at the end of the year, now that I have told all of you about it. =p

The past or the future.

My colleagues and I went for a one-day Johor Bahru trip close to the end of last year. We were supposed to meet at the Singapore side of the Customs, but two of my friends came one hour early, so we agreed to meet at City Square, the shopping centre right after the Malaysia customs.

However, I was an hour late when I reached City Square. I'm normally quite a punctual guy (when I'm not going wedding dinners), and I take pride in my discipline. But that day I had misjudged the time required.

Naturally my travelling companions asked why I was that late, but I didn't felt like explaining. When you try to justify your actions, like the bus was late, the queue were longer than usual etc.... it normally creates negative energy to yourself and no one loves a whiner.

Moreover, I only have myself to blame for not choosing to come out an hour earlier to cater for such possible situations.

So I told them “I give you 2 choices. Either you hear my lame excuses, or I treat you free drinks to make up for it.” And my companions enthusiastically chose the latter. ^_^

I ended up spending more to treat them bak kuh teh (pork rib soup) to atone for my lateness. I say it's money well spent!

And the rest of the day went on really well, eating + shopping + massaging at cheaper prices than Singapore, what’s there not to love?

2011 will be my year.
Don't lay blame, and don't waste time justifying.

Gotta take responsibility, look forward, and never look back (except for those nostalgic happy memories).

Let year 2011 be your year too, my friends!

Random Notes 47 (and a Happy 2011 everyone!)

(1) I have only set one resolution in year 2010 - that is to pick up basic Malay. So I have signed up for a weekly class. So far it's ok, everyone keeps telling me that it's so much easier to learn Malay than other languages. But let's face the truth - The basic Malay I learnt so far is still not going to bring me anywhere. I'm still going to rely much on Google Translate, and if you speak Malay too fast, I still won't catch it.

(2) Year 2010 was a breakthrough for me. Stepped out of my comfort zone and greatly widen my social circle. Made so many many friends. And gotten some lobangs in the process. I'm blessed!

(3) Life is full of options. And you always need to have backup plans, alternate plans and risky plans. Life has a funny way of forcing you into a corner and make you execute your other plans.

(4) Nothing gets solved when we complain. And the person who you are sharing your complaints with isn't going to be any happier when hearing it. So always think about the bright side of the situation.

(5) As a result of (4), do yourself a favour and spend more time with happier people. When someone tries to complain to you, hold your hand right in front of him and tell him "It doesn't matter, now shut the hell up". Unless of course, if it's the wife who is complaining, that one you must listen.

(6) I have set up 4 resolutions for the year 2011. I won't list them explicitly here, except for keeping myself in shape for the 21km half-marathon at the end of year 2011.

(7) Don't let your soul be consumed by Facebook and Twitter and Blogger. Is it ironic, coming from a blogger?

(8) Wishing all my friends here a great year 2011. Play hard, but never compromise on a good night sleep.