Posts

[Summary] Getting to Yes with Yourself

What is the secret to becoming a better negotiator and reaching successful agreements? In Getting to YES with Yourself , author William Ury talks about reaching agreement with the greatest obstacle in a negotiation - our own selves. In the book, William outlined 6 steps to getting to yes with ourselves: Putting Yourself in Your Shoes. All too often we judge ourselves harshly and sometimes unfairly. In the first step of getting to yes with ourselves, William suggests that we listen to our feelings and figure out our underlying needs, so as to better understand what we truly wish to achieve in the negotiation. Develop Your Inner BATNA. The second step is to take responsibility for our own life and relationships instead of putting the blame on others. That way, we can make a commitment to ourselves to take care of our needs and develop our B est A lternative T o a N egotiated A greement (BATNA) regardless of what the other party does or does not do for us. Reframe Your Picture. Much o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ikigai - the Japanese secret to a long and happy life

A quick summary of my key takeaways from the book "Ikigai - The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life" by Hector Garcia . Chapter 3: The basic principles of Morita therapy Accept your feelings. Similar to the weather, we cannot predict or control them, we can only observe them. Do what you should be doing. Don't focus on eliminating symptoms, just focus on the present moment and avoid intellectualizing the situation. Discover your life's purpose. Have a clear sense of our purpose and ask ourselves: "What do we need to be doing right now? What action should we be taking?" Chapter 9: Resilience and wabi-sabi 七転び八起き「 Nana korobi ya oki 」 Fall seven times, rise eight - Japanese proverb - Chapter 9: Reilience and wabi-sabi We all have to face difficult moments at some point in our lives, and the way we approach these setbacks will make a huge difference to our quality of life. Will we be able to stay focused on our objectives and pick o...
Post a Comment
Read more

2018 review

Phew... 2018 went faster than expected and 2019 isn't slowing down. Here's how I did for my New Year's Resolution : Resolution 1: Read 10 books I've already covered the first 4 books in another post so this will be the list of remaining books I've read since. Happiness Is a Choice You Make  by John Leland Blue on Blue by Charles Campisi Touching Heaven by Leanne Hadley What I liked: I'm not sure what is there not to like about this book. The touching and heartfelt stories about the faith the children had in the face of their illness had me tearing more than once while reading. What I disliked: None that I can think of. Kiss That Frog by Brian Tracy What I liked: Short, manageable chapters making it suitable for brief periods of reading while commuting. What I disliked: Yet another self-improvement book, really? (Just kidding, it is a good book with much less 'feel-good-fluff' that characterises other self-improvement book. And that bri...
Post a Comment
Read more

[Review] Blue on Blue

Blue on Blue by Charles Campisi is about the police work in New York's Police Department's (NYPD) Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB). It is quite an enlightening read to know about how the detectives track and investigate the 'tips' they get about corrupt cops, and just how much time and effort goes into such investigations. The tone is light and the overall pace is good; I did not feel bored while reading this book and in fact, had a hard time putting it down many a times. Two noteworthy quotes for me came from Officer Lenny Swindell, "If ya got a job, do the job!" And Officer Fahy: What is the one four-letter word that should never, ever be associated with your service in the NYPD? In case anyone is wondering, the four letter word is not a profanity but the word F-A-I-R . In the book, Officer Fahy cautions the recruits that life isn't fair, the department isn't fair, the job of police officer isn't fair, and the sooner they accept that, the bette...
Post a Comment
Read more

[Review] Happiness is A Choice You Make

Happiness Is A Choice You Make - Lessons from a year among the oldest old by John Leland weaves together the stories and wisdom of six New Yorkers who number among the “oldest old”― those eighty-five and up. A fairly good read with nuggets of wisdom from the seniors on living with contentment, despite the challenges of old age they face. I can't write as good a review as those already found on Amazon so I'll put some favourite passages from the book (and there's quite a fair number of them!) here instead. Chapter 4: Love in the Time of Lipitor If my year with the elders was also to be a love story, this was a lesson that I needed to learn: that in a relationship, sometimes taking - allowing the other person to do something for you, rather than insisting on doing it yourself - is also a kind of giving. The same applies in friendships or business relationships. True generosity includes enabling others to be generous. Chapter 5: On the Other Hand ... I knew successf...
Post a Comment
Read more

2018 Mid-year Review

Considering it's the middle of 2018, it is time to do a review of my New Year's Resolutions . 1) Read 10 books Here's my read list thus far: The 10-Second Rule What I liked: There was none of the usual 'sales-talk' about the goodness of following Jesus, just some simple advice on how to allow God into one's life and work His magic. What I disliked: Nothing much really. The Little Book of Value Investing What I liked: Simplified language for financial novices like me to understand more about investing and what stock indicators to look out for. What I disliked: Too simplified for those looking for a more in-depth guide on how to perform business valuation and identify value stocks. My Holiday in North Korea What I liked: Simmons' anecdotes of her experiences in North Korea, which nearly had me burst out laughing on the train at times. What I disliked: Not sure if it's due to cultural or language differences but I did have difficulty understan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ubuntu VirtualBox Guest Additions and Custom LiveCD

Some quick notes for myself: Ubuntu VirtualBox Guest Additions Install VirtualBox guest additions Create virtual machine shared folder Add virtual machine Ubuntu user to vboxsf group `sudo usermod -a -G vboxsf username` Logout/restart References: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26740113/virtualbox-shared-folder-permissions Creating Ubuntu Custom LiveCD Add Cubic repository `sudo apt-add-repository ppa:cubic-wizard/release` Install Cubic `sudo apt install cubic` Run Cubic and point to default ISO downloaded from www.ubuntu.com Install any additional packages needed Finish customizing ISO image References: https://askubuntu.com/questions/741753/how-to-use-cubic-to-create-a-custom-ubuntu-live-cd-image https://www.ostechnix.com/create-custom-ubuntu-live-cd-image/ For the more adventurous who want to create a LiveCD from scratch:  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCDCustomizationFromScratch
Post a Comment
Read more