Angelina Jolie

I read up on Angelina Jolie after my husband mentioned that although she is not beautiful, she has the skills of reinventing herself and going after what she wants. She is bold in her pursuit of her dreams as an actress and in her search for love. She does everything with a passion.

She is an oscar winner (Girl Interuppted!), a mother (Maddox, Zahara and Schlo), a wife (Brad Pitt) and a humanitarian (UN ambassador). She is truly blessed because she aprreciates what she has and is grateful for it. She then uses what she has and gives it away. She will always be filled with riches in her life and it can only ger better. So look out for her!

A video of her in Namibia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzUgcmD1LpU

Birth and Buddha Paintings

3 weeks after I gave birth to my second son, my husband suggested I do some paintings of Buddha. We bought 2 Buddha art pieces a couple of months back and they have brought a sense of peace and abundence to our lives. So why not have more Buddha paintings? The paintings I did surprised even myself although to a trained eye it may seem amateurish. It was another wonderful gift after my son.
My favourite painting.
http://static.flickr.com/79/240228603_0a29510488_m.jpg
Please check out the rest of my paintings and offer your comments. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindabosco/
I went through my second birth without epidural (Yep!) and without my husband. He was sending my older son to my mum's when I decided to pop. The nurse I had was an angel and she help me through with both her encouragement and expertise. My husband and I decided to do away with the month long confinement after my birth to everyones shock and bewilderment as it was a understood custom to follow. My whole family was much happier including ME!
From these 2 experiences about birth and confinement, I learn to question what my beliefs are. Are they my own or are they opionions and interpretations of others? Have any of the confinement facts been substiantiated or are they just old wife's tale that play on our fears and ignorance.
How can we say we need epidural when everyone's pain threshold is different. Another person's idea of pain will be different from yours.Well, I was blessed that my labour was short but more blessed because I came out stronger as a person.

Leading by design - The IKEA story by Bertil Torekull

Ikea was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in a little town in Sweden called Almhult. Ikea HQ remains there till this day. There are 150 stores and growing worldwide but they all retain the Ikea spirit.

1. Reaching good results with limited resources.
They strive to produce the best product (low price, good quality) in the most cost efficient way.
Their products reaches the the masses looking for stylish, good looking, quality furniture at a low price.

2. Responsibilty.
They strive to be responsible in every sense. To their workers, to their producers, to thier consumers and to society.

3. Doing it a different way.
By always asking why we are doing this or that, we can find new paths. By refusing to accept a pateern simply because it is established, we make progress.

The religion of consumerism

THE ECONOMY AS RELIGION: THE DYNAMICS OF CONSUMER CULTURE
Dell deChant

excerpts:
The great metamyth of postmodern culture is the myth of success and affluence, gained through a proper relationship with the Economy, and revealed in the ever expanding material prosperity of society and through the ever-increasing acquisition and consumption of products.

Secondary myths are narratives about the masters of business and finance; the stars of movies, sports, and the music industry; persons who win lotteries, make fortunes e-trading, win gameshows and then “live large” as a consequence of their success.

Religion in postmodern society is that collection of culturally embedded phenomena that mediate individual and collective relationships with the sacred power of the Economy through acquisition-consumption-disposal. It is not enough to simply acquire and consume objects and images. One must do both and one must also dispose of the objects and images for the sacred to be experienced. The entire process must be completed, for only then (in the cyclical manner that is elemental to cosmological systems) can the process begin again. The quicker the process is completed and then begun again, the greater is one’s experience of the sacred, and hence the greater one’s power in the socio-religious system. For this reason, popular culture venerates the person who is able to keep up with the trends in fashion, who is able to acquire a new car every year, who buys a new house, replaces appliances on a regular basis, acquires the most innovative type of computer, and so on.

Thus, because the sacred is the Economy, and religion is the process of acquisition-consumption-disposal which engages one with the sacred through myth and ritual, then the non-religious would be that which disengages one from the process. This would be production.

Because production (labor/work) prevents one from acquisition-consumption-disposal, it is the antithesis of the sacred. Production has thus become functionally profane, where in earlier times, it was functionally sacred (the old Protestant work-ethic, which vested religious merit in economic production); and acquisition and consumption, which were once religiously restricted, if not actually profane, have become sacred.

When I am working, I am not consuming, yet my working/profane endeavors bring me the substance necessary for me to consume. I thus sacrifice time and energy in the profane realm for the sake of the Economy; not because I find any particular satisfaction in contributing to production (and certainly not because of any religious merit per se) but because I am equipping myself to better perform my religious duty. My sacrifice of time and energy in profane endeavors (labor) rewards me with ritual resources (money), which then allows me to participate in the sacred process of acquisition-consumption-disposal.



So if shopping is our religion, our malls must be our cathedrals, temples and shrines. When we are performing our consuming rituals at our temples, it brings us closer to our sacred economy.

How do we decide what to consume that makes us feel that we are pious and commited? Does the product sell us a greater vision?
The product must offer us the promise land, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It must not simply be a product with an end use but what, how will its use exalt you.

Woman I admire - Muccia Prada

Miuccia Prada is one of fashion industry's leaders. She uses clothes to express her ideas. Although she finds it hard coming as an intellectual with a Phd in political science to come to terms that she is a fashion designer.

Prada manages to convert a private obsesssion with things like kitsch, uniforms, wallpaper, computers, and even trash into an international symbol of cool. And,
Prada doesn't sew, knot, sketch. She is not that kind of designer. Instead she surrounds herself with talented people whose job is to translate her themes, concepts, and -especially- her taste into clothes that bear the Prada name.

Often, she will focus on a colour, a texture, a memory. Once she locks in her seasonal passion, she can tell her people what to do and show them how to do it. An unusual approach, but it has made her one of the most influential designers in the world.

Prada offers far more than clothes, she is trying to sell people a better, hipper version of themselves. She doesn't simply sell five hundred dollar scarves; she sells the world view that comes with buying such objects.

Here are a few quotes of Muccia that I obtained from various sources.

“I realise how powerful and important clothes are, especially for women,” she says. “They have to be useful for your life, of course, but they must also express your individual sentiment.” That Prada accepts that all fashion is role-play is what makes her such a force. She understands that the job of the truly ground-breaking designer is to decide on the roles, dress them and then present them in such a way that people all over the world want to join the cast.

Prada realised that choosing the inappropriate is what moves creativity forward. In the 19th century, impressionism was seen as inappropriate. So was surrealism, some 40 years later. Likewise, Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst. The list is long and important. These are the people who have changed our thinking for ever.

“If you have something to tell, you must do it through an idea. For me, that is always through clothes,” she says. “This leads us into considerations of imagination, desire, the longing to be beautiful and the obsessions of narcissism. These are big subjects.”

Prada herself makes an unlikely éminence grise. She is neither dowdy, nor overwhelmingly chic. In fact, she looks entirely normal. Her figure is that of a woman in her fifties. Her hair is cut like most other women’s hair. She rarely wears make-up. Contrast her with another Italian icon, Donatella Versace, and you realise that she is a fashion outsider. Certainly, she avoids socialising with most other designers and runs a mile from social events. As she said to me, years ago: “I am a wife and a mother” — she has two teenage boys — “and I have many more interests than fashion. Fashion is just my job.”

More indepth read.
http://www.michaelspecter.com/pdf/prada.pdf

Buying a house

I was reading this book titled ' Start Late, Finish Rich' by Davis Bach. It is actually stuff I already know but never took a step further to understand. I want to retire by 40 with 5 houses and a car. That will be 9 years away. Can I do it?

Own your home

We do but it is public housing. It is a safe bet as it is fully paid for with a sweetener(grant) thrown in. If we were to sell it in 5 years time (2 years away), we will make a profit. So should we sell or rent it out when the time comes. We could rent it out for 2 years and earn passive income. Eg $700 x 24mths = $16800 or just roll over the money to a bigger apartment. But the question is public or private housing?

If we rent a private condo for a year at $1500, it will set us back $18000. We can use that money to place a downpayment for a condo (5% of sale price)and try to rent it out but with full knowledge that we must have enough money to cover interest in times of no rent.

If that is the case, we must set aside $20k for downpayment of flat $400k. And another $50k for loan repayment. But getting a loan for that amount will mean in the first 5 years, interest will be on par with loan repayment. An obsene amount to pay the bank.

So we need to have at least $220k in the bank before we buy. So the target is 200k by 1/8/2007. We calculate whether we should hold on to the old place by collecting rent or selling it and clearing the bank loan further.

Women make the best salesmen

I am currently reading this book called 'Women make the best salesmen' by Marion Luna Brem. She is one of the top car salesperson in a profession usually dominated by men. I find this book very insightful as it offers me a women's point of view of sales written by a woman who has found success.

These are the 3 things that I can apply to improve myself

a. Dress the part

Remember and practice the "Three C's" of dressing comfortably, compatibly, and confidently, your customers will respectfully pay attention to your message.

1. Comfortably - I will not distract myself/client in any way.
2. Compatibly - I will dress with my client and product in mind.
3. Confidently - I will feel in control.


b. Set the stage

1. Prepare your 'show' area as you would expect a special guests.
2. Good organization impresses and wins people over.
3. Have the tools of your trade at your fingertips.


c. Good first impression

1. Follow up with prospects and customers and make the impression lasts.
2. Listen to your heart, it doesn't lie to you. Others will see the honesty in your deeds.
3. Be emotionally engage with your customers. It takes courage but it builds trust.

Insurance reminder

I was analysing my insurance policies and discussing it with a friend. These are the 3 points I learnt.

a. For life policies, the total costs will be greater than your total paid premium until around your 20th year. If this is the case, if you were to surrender your policy anytime before your 20th year. You will get less than what you paid out.

You could take this loss as coverage for those number of years.

You could also buy term insurance, pay less per year with more coverage offered. The only thing is that you do not get anything back after 20 years of paid premium.

But paid term premiums costs almost half as compared to life insurance premiums with double the coverage.

So in my 20th year, I will have roughly paid out $5000 in term premiums.As for my life policy, I will get $10000 back if I surrender the policy which is actually my total paid up premiums. I don't get anything more from it after 20 years. Just coverage.


b. So term or life? like what my friend said. It depends on what I want out of life. If I am lazy, I will do better buying the life insurance. At least I get money ($10000) back plus coverage.

But if I want to push ahead, then term is the way. It provides more coverage with less premiums and although there is no money back, I will have made more money elsewhere than just the $10000 I put in after 20 years.


c. Endowments/savings

Cons - Premiums are higher than life with the same coverage. The 50% cash jump comes only in your last year. So you will definitely make a loss if you surrender anytime before maturity. You can't be certain what will happen in 20 years time.

Pros - 20years instead of life to get money.

Can I make the money work harder for me? Of I invest the $2000 yearly premium elsewhere. Will I get more than $100k after 20years?

Selling The Wheel

I just finished reading this book " Selling The Wheel" by Jeff Cox and Howard Stevens. It was an interesting read and it open my eyes to the different ways of selling. Basically in this book, there are 4 different kinds of sales approach represented by 4 different persons.

a. Cassius the Closer - new wave, high margin products, sells dreams and opportubities, close fast, passionate about selling and notion of 'can't have too much money'. Work alone.


b. Toby the Wizard - technical expert, consciencious, offer total solutions to customers.


c. Ben the builder - relationship builder, know both customers and customers' business well, bend over backwards for big clients, keep pace with technical change.


d. Caleb the Captain of Sales - leader with customer satisfaction constantly on his mind, good motivator to staff, incentives and upgrading for staff.


They have their own strengths and weaknesses. But stages of product growth, the business enviroment all play a part. In a way, there is no fix or right way to sell. You have to read the market cycles and match the correct sales approach.

The Meditation Plan

I just finished reading 'The Meditation Plan' by Richard Lawrence.
This part about how to meditate was quite enlightening. I was having problems trying to concentrate and this explanation from the book helps.

"Meditation is a DISCIPLINED loosening of the mind. You allow the mind to wander where it will, and yet all the time have complete control over the process. The way to do it is CONCENTRATION. The mind wants to wander, you cannot stop it by force. Instead you have to coax your mind in the direction you want it to go."

I should sit down and let my mind wander. When it is something I want to understand further, I must try to coax it to go down that direction instead of to another thought and be open to input at the same time.


Under the section 'Fortune' in this book were some guidelines that I should bear in mind. These are the three points I picked which I am not good at but will try to improve. Good fortune is something you cultivate, there is a magic to it.


a. Try to make everything you do helpful to others as well as yourself.

I will do things that will benefit myself as well as others. Not just others


b. Be as positive as you can. If you have anything negative which you feel has to be said about anyone, always say it to their face.

I will speak up even if the person may not like to hear it.


c. When dealing with any opposition to something you have to do, use truth as your weapon. Even if you are outspoken in your words and thoughts, try to keep LOVE in your heart. This will deny opponents any immunition against you.

I will be mindful of any opposition. Does it stem from my own selfich reasons or pride? I will seek the truth and have LOVE in my heart.