Family Secrets

I learnt a beautiful lesson from a good friend of mine who arrived from Bangkok yesterday. While driving him from the airport to the hotel, he told me, “Jimmy, my father told me that I must remember in life the following two most important principles. If you follow them, you will be successful and contented: whenever you drink water, remember the source; when you eat, eat from used and preferably rejected porcelain.”

My friend then kindly explained, “My father told me the tow principles when I was only 10 years old. I was then beginning to understand more about life. He felft China with practically nothing. He was a farmer. Yet, he successfully raised all six of us. We are successful people. We have faithfully followed what he taught us. And our family is now into the forth generation.” He expounded on his father’s philosophy.

Whenever you drink water; remember the source.

Water is the source of life. One can live for days without food, but one must have water. Some people have given you water. They are most likely your parents. It could be your friends. Remember them. Reward them when you can. Be grateful and always do good. In your life, there are always people helping you. Without them, you cannot successful.

When you eat, eat from used, or preferably rejected, porcelain.

Keep good porcelains to sell and make money. Have money. You do not need to use new things that cost money . You can eat from both new and used porcelain. So, why not eat from the used porcelain and sell the new ones to generate money! There is no need to indulge in vanities. Eating from used porcelain teaches you to be truly humble daily!

It is better to be rich in the pocket than trying to live like a rich man but really being poor in the pocket.

I think all of us have much to learn from the above secrets of success.

Mr. Jimmy while he came to Cambodia on 02 Sep 2013,  The second time I met him. 

Water is the substance of life.

Give it when you can afford

To those really in need.

Someone gave you water

When you have no way to get it yourself

And that someone is your parent.

Every time you eat from a bowl

Remember that to be able to eat is a blessing.

Thank god and be grateful that you can eat

And that you are eating from a bowl of your choice

The humble bowl.

There is no need to boost your ego

By eating from an expensive bowl.

What is in the bowl counts,

Not the bowl!

Source: Legacy to My Sons - Jimmy Teo

Does the agent seem honest?

How does one really know if another person is honest? It’s one of the hardest things to determine. However, over the years I’ve learned to trust my sixth sense about this sort of thing. Just in case you haven’t yet had a chance to develop your sixth sense, here are some things I look out for. I listen carefully to everything the agent says. 

If the agent begins slamming other agents, or others in the field, telling me how bad they are, I sense a problem. At the least this agent is not professional. 

At the worst, he or she is telling tales agent begins telling me how he or she tricked a buyer into giving a seller a better deal (hoping to impress me with ried. In real estate, as in all else, the best deals are where know this agent won’t try to “trick” me in the future? If the agent exaggerates by telling me I can get a higher price than I know is realistic or a quicker deal than seems possible, I get turned off. 

Mr. Kuy Vat, Mr. Po Eav Kong, Mr. Kevin Green and Me.

This agent may not be outright lying, but exaggeration is close to it. If the agent is building an unrealistic world of expectations in me, it can only result in problems down the road. Most of all I listen to see if what the agent tells me sounds sensible. Remember, all it takes to unravel a dishonest person is one small lie.

Daddy, I Want You to Be Healthy

This remarkable story shows that synergy, where the whole is greater than the sum of the part, comes from life balance.

I had been working every hard on my career. By the time I was forty-five years old, I was quite successful. I was also about sixty pounds overweight, a compulsive eater during times of stress, and one who didn’t have time to exercise regularly because of work. On his  fifth birthday, my son. Logan, gave me a book on healthy living. Inside, his mother had helped him write the following words: “Daddy, for my birthday this year, I want you to be healthy. I want you to be around awhile.” Talk about a punch in the stomach. Ouch.

That plea from my son changed my perspective on my lifestyle completely. The eating and the lack of regular physical exercise weren’t just my individual choice anymore. I saw suddenly that I was creating a very unhealthy legacy for our children. I was modeling for them that one’s body was unimportant; that self-control was unimportant; that the only thing worth working hard for in this life was money and prestige. I realized that my stewardship for my children needs. It also involved providing healthy role models. I had not been doing that.

So I committed myself to being healthy for my children [Habit 1: Be Proactive]. Not to losing weight, but to being healthy. That’s the key for me. My commitment had to be to something that held real value for me. I had tried so many diets and exercise programs before. Normally I would be fine until was simply not enough.

But my children are significant enough. I care enough about them that I can make healthy decisions. I established as a goal for myself that I wanted to be healthy [Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind]. I wanted to be vital, to have energy to play with my kids after work, to be able to play in the company softball tournament without getting winded on the way to first based. As a way to reach that goal, I implemented a diet and exercise program. The key here is that the diet and exercise program was not the goal. Being healthy for my children was. I decided to share my goal with somebody else who wanted to be healthy. We now work together on a mutually beneficial exercise program. I made sure I set aside time for me to accomplish my goals. I learned to stop working and pay attention to the needs of my body.

It’s been two years since I changed my way of thinking. I don’t struggle anymore to get out of bed. Exercising had almost second nature. I don’t talk myself out of my exercise program like I did at the beginning. Sure, there are still days that I don’t do too well. I’m tired, I have a headache, it’s too hot. Some day, I plain talk myself out of running. But it’s so much easier now for me to get back on track [Habit 3: Put First Things First]. Because I have this larger goal, this greater commitment to somebody I love more than myself, I can get right back on course.

A second benefit to this healthful mind-set is that I believe more than ever that I can be proactive. Getting out of bed early every morning, running to the top of the hill, running is my first 5k race. All of these things motivate me. Day after day, as I exercise, I experience private victories. So now I have this sense of faith, of hope, of belief that I am capable of difficult things. In a way, I had a victim’s mentality before because I was so discouraged, so stressed out that I couldn’t make a difference in the way I lived. Now, I have private victories that buoy me up.

A third benefit to having this larger goal is clearness of mind. I’m getting older. I used to think that getting older meant having to get used to being stiff, sore, tired, achy. But now that I have a much healthier lifestyle, I can see that it wasn’t age that made me feel that way, it was the way I was living. I know now that my head is achy because I ate too much sugar, not because I am forty-seven. My body is adjusted to health. I can use its healthy reactions to help me make decisions about how to live. I have learned you can actually trust principles, the reward of vitality and health s discernible. When that clarity of mind is clouded, I know instantly that I need to get back on track with my eating exercising, and sleep.

Perhaps the greatest lesson I have learned is that my body is intimately connected to the social, mental, and spiritual aspects of my life. That sugar headache I always had didn’t allow me to think clearly. Plus, the clarity of mind that comes after exercising is so beneficial. We identify losing weight as being have gained so far. I’ve never thought so clearly or concisely. Socially, I have benefited as well. Whenever I dieted before, I was always incredibly grumpy, which affected my relationships with my wife, children, and co-workers. I so grumpy because I had this huge have to on my list, which I didn’t have a driving desire to do. Now that I want to be healthy, the decisions to eat correctly and exercise are made more willingly, even joyfully on my part. This lack of internal struggle frees up so much more of my emotional energy to spend on my wife and children.

I never envisioned that a decision to be healthy could have such a dramatic effect on all four areas of my life. I’m not there yet. I’m still working. But I am enjoying the rewards that come from living, exercising, and eating the right way.

When this overweight forty-seven-year-old man tapped onto deeper emotional and spiritual motivations, including the legacy he was leaving his family, he gained control, perspective, willpower, clarity of mind, profound self-awareness, and personal freedom. Among the many lessons this story contains, it particularly shows the power and the fruits of the private victory, How easy it is to say no when we have a burning yes inside.

I ‘ve come to believe that self-mastery is foundational to maintaining good relationships. Appetite control usually precedes and enables emotional and mental control. We also can’t really build strong relationships until we conquer prideful passions. The author of proverbs taught, “He who rules his own spirit is better than he that taketh a city.” Greek wisdom teaches, “Know thyself. Control Thyself. Give thyself.”  

Source: Living The 7 Habits