You guys may think where I have been the past weekend. I’ve been participating in a three-day intensive seminar called The Courage to Create, organized by ECI (Executive Coach International). A place where we are being developed to create our destiny. A program where we can clear our emotional clutters and work in our goals and dreams.
The preparation
One coach is assigned to each of us before the 3 days intensive program. I met my coach Tan Xing Jian, 2 weeks before the event. His role is more about preparing me to go into the program. He also pushed me to do my homework (which is very important in ECI). If you are curious about the homework, it’s much more about our observation on the life we have right now. It’s about the questions we often ask ourselves, the behaviors we keep on doing. And the most important of all are the 25 memories we have on events in the past.
The program
The 3 days program is very intensive. It was quite far from the place where I stayed and I had to stay overnight in the area. They started at 9am, the first two days ended around 2am, and the last day lasted about 7am in the morning. I’m even surprised that I survived the 22 hours non-stop (except a little break here and there).
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Blogging made me better with written words; but how about spoken words or public speaking?
I experienced that quite some time ago, even before I took my break and my holiday. That night I had church small group gathering and I was not in the mood of attending. It is the men’s fellowship where most of them are fathers in their 40s and 50s, while I’m the only one in the 20s. Because of earlier commitment, I came. As I was so tired, I planned to be just quiet in the meeting. I was planning to observe and not to talk too much.
Fortunately, I changed my mind. I was thinking to myself, “I’m so tired and wanted to be alone, but usually I can write and blog when I am tired. So… why didn’t I speak as I blog?” That moment, it changed my attitude. I visualize myself blogging while speaking, and eventually, came to my surprise, I managed to share a lot of thoughts that night. I enjoyed the event and I’m leaving the event not so tired anymore.
Now it’s my turn to share the lesson to you; how you can use your experience in blogging while speaking in public.
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Should you write more or less?
I would like to thank Rummy, this message is all started by what he commented in Jean’s post on Writers’ Blockhead. I am encouraged by what he said on how my posts have made some impacts. It’s not to boast about it as he also pointed his disappointment seeing how I wrote less these days.
I am honored by his expectation. I would love to write more and I’m looking forward to. But sometimes I have to sacrifice writing for some more important thing. I can just write more and more but I might be starving. And I may need to eat more…
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Do you dare to make your life an open source project?
Imagine your life is an open source project… Let’s say a Wordpress project!
People will be able to download it from internet, check out your PHP source codes, modifying it with all sorts of plugins and themes, and making it a custom-made blog for them.
Do you dare to make your life the same way?
It’s an idea raised by my friend, Ferry, a.k.a The Lazy Koala. He is a smart guy with whom I shared much of my life stories during university days, and even many times after. He is a smart guy, a scholar in IT and software engineering field, an expert in developing open source project.
I was sharing how I lose faith in blogging and he was suggesting that it might be good if I practice doing it before writing it. Sharing it as I’m doing it, sharing it as if my life is an open source project (just like Wordpress), open for others to review and contribute.
If you haven’t got an idea of what open source project is, check out the following definition from the home of open source project initiatives…
Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in.
~Open Source Initiatives (www.opensource.org)
Now imagine a life similar to an open source project. It might also gives you greater rewards just as explained. But peer review and transparency? Mmm… that might be painful. Let’s take a look of what it takes for an open source project called LIFE.
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Do you enjoy your success journey?
As promised, Reason-4-Smile got a new theme. The new tagline is “Happiness in Success Journey”. It’s pretty much inspired by Joyce Meyer with her program, Enjoying Everyday Lives. I wanted to do the same thing, or I should say the mini version with this blog: sharing and encouraging you to be happy and to enjoy your journey towards your dream.
As you can see, there are quite a number of changes that I have made with this blog. The new theme is taken from Wordpress Fun by Smashing Magazine. I find that the theme is quite fresh and fun, instead of melancholic and rigid as in my previous theme. You will see more updates coming in, but for now, let’s keep it simple and sweet. Hopefully it will make it easier for you to navigate through my blog as well.
The success journey
When you travel towards your objective, be sure to pay attention to the path.
~Paulo Coelho
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Hello and welcome! I am Robert, sharing with you articles in personal management and personal development. Check out the 
