How to Unleash Your Creative Juice

Here comes the end of our first module on communication skills, and we are now entering the second module on creativity and innovation. Yesterday I did not attend the class as I need to attend an interview. Luckily I managed to catch up today, with our speaker Prof. Barjoyai Bardai, who has graduated from Harvard University, taught us about creative thinking techniques.

The first session of the class was on six thinking hats. This thinking tool was initially invented by Edward de Bono, which is a powerful technique used to scrutinize decisions from various perspectives. It is very useful in everyday's life, especially at work, as it forces us to thinking out of the box and move outside of our habitual thinking style so that we can gain a better overview of a particular situation.

The six thinking hats are:

White Hat: focuses on known facts and information

Red Hat: focuses on feelings, emotions and intuition

Yellow Hat: focuses on positive perspectives and benefits as to why something may work

Black Hat: focuses on negative perspectives and problems that may arise as to why something may not work

Green Hat: focuses on ideas and solutions by unleashing our creativity

Blue Hat: focuses on the system and action plans to make things work

Additionally, our trainer added the seventh thinking hat:

Grey Hat: focuses on spiritual intelligence (or spiritual quotient, SQ), which is claimed to be the ultimate intelligence

He told us the usefulness of these thinking hats when solving complex solutions from different perspectives. There are several benefits, such as allowing one to voice out his/her opinion without risk, result in thinking creatively, better decision making and improve communication. By applying this tool, decisions can be made and actions can be carried out with more ambitious plans, better execution skills and backup with good contingency planning without neglecting public sensitivity.

The second part of the class placed emphasis on reverse engineering. This is how reverse engineering works: Imagine our problem in reverse to change a positive situation into a negative one to allow us to look into situations or obstacles from different angles. This activity was really very useful to all of us as it helps us to nudge our thinking and allow us to unleash our creative juices.

Today's class was truly stimulating. It was one of the most rewarding classes I have ever attended as it can be virtually applied in every facet of our lives at all levels of organization and at all times. A bring-home message for me today is: Creativity is not an innate talent, rather it can be learned!

Proposal Presentation

Finally comes the last day for communication module. We were required to apply what we have learned during this month in BeST programme, ranging from presentation skills to professional grooming, to impress our panel judges in group proposal presentation. All of us were well-prepared and professionally groomed to give our final shot on the proposal presentation.

My group - Futura Corp, came out with the imaginary product of micro-combo sprayer. It is a sprayer which contains a combination of different microbes in order to facilitate decomposition of organic kitchen wastes, which contribute approximately 45% of daily household wastes. Another fact is that 80% of our landfill has already filled up. This is a staggering figure. Hence our group believe that this product will help to reduce the wastes from ending up in landfill.

Throughout the preparation process of presentation, I truly understand the importance of teamwork when it comes to dealing with collaboration work. Collaborative presentation requires more revision and better preparation as compared to individual ones. Furthermore, we must not get too emotionally attached to our own contributions which may affect those of other team-mates. Finally, it is essential to rehearse as a team at least once after revision.

The process of preparing the proposal has been rewarding. I learned how to prepare a proposal which needs to be persuasive, easy to understand, believable and able to convince prospective customers. It is an undeniable fact that, although the company profile, management approach and technical solution are the crucial factors in winning the heart of the customers, the appearance of a proposal plays an important part in order for its customers to judge the quality of a company, I am looking forward for the coming months which will further enhance my technical skills as well as entrepreneurial skills.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Food for Thought

Have you ever wonder: Why two individuals, despite having similar background, education, training and life experience, may end up with different lives - ranging from mediocre to wonderful. In short, why are some of them being so successful in life but some are not, in spite of having similar background? This was asked by our trainer of the day of BeST program on Monday. The answer is simple, he said. It is because our brain has the ability to learn the healthy patterns and behaviours, which will eventually lead to positive thinking and positive outcome. The study of the relationship between a subjective experience of a person and the behaviour towards the experience is called Neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP for short.

Throughout this NLP class on Monday, we were taught how NLP has the ability to help us to get out of unhealthy thinking and replace them with positive thoughts in order to promote wellness. I realized how powerful it is to have a positive mindset in order to succeed in our career and life. It also explains why placebos, which are the sugar pills used in clinical studies as a control, work in treating patients. It is our ATTITUDE, PERCEPTION and THOUGHT, that affects our emotion, and ultimately success in life.

I learned that not only in facing problems, NLS plays a crucial role in management. When working in a team, either as a leader or a team player, the incorporation of NLP into our daily life allows us to possess attitudinal outlook, great skills and behavioural flexibility. As a result, our performance will significantly improve no matter how stressful and challenging workforces are.

NLP modelling has been widely used to replicate excellence and to pursue success in life. Our trainer told us that NLS modelling can be described as an imitation of a successful result which will bring about excellence. If a person can achieve something, it is possible for us to imitate it and teach it to others. NLP modelling can be done in three stages:

The first stage: Our five senses (hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste) are the tools of how we perceive messages, thus it is very important to observe and identify the key of success (as well as problems) of our imitators.

The second stage: Once we have identified the key success of our imitators, a systematic test can be carried out to confirm various facets of behaviour which will affect the results we want. The best behaviour that will lead to success in life will be identified and we should learn from it.

The third stage: Analysis of what we have learned from our imitator, so that we can teach others the secret of success. In particular, we should pay more attention to WHAT (what to do or what behaviour should we imitate), HOW (how to do or think of the behaviour) and WHY (why should we do so, what are the benefits and outcomes).

Many people use NLP modelling to enhance their leadership, sales ability, motor skills and other qualities. I am now 22, going on 23 two days later. As a person who is going to step into the world of reality in few months time after the completion of BeST program, inevitably, I will be facing challenges and obstacles. Thanks to BeST program, I understand that positive thinking, self-motivation, hope and faith play pivotal roles in improving the situation. I believe I can make a difference to my life in order to obtain the life experiences that I want, and to achieve my goal of becoming a successful entrepreneur in future.

In a nutshell, I believe that through NLP training to cultivate the required strength and faith to succeed in life, one will be able to outline the future vision and achieve a balanced use of all resources. If you were to ask me: At what time can we apply NLP and what problems can be solved with NLP? My answer is – If you wish to be the master of yourself and to participate in crafting a better life, you are always welcome to step into the beautiful world of NLP!

Learn to Speak Confidently in the Public

Yesterday morning, upon stepping into the lecture room, everyone was busy rehearsing their speech. I can see the faces of some of my fellow classmates being so serious while preparing the speech. It was THE day all of us have to stand in front of our audience (which are our classmates and our trainer Mr. Hisham) and to perform our speech. We were given 3 minutes to present.

As my group was given the topic on social network, I chose to talk on the evolution of social network. I talked about how the transition from blogs and emails, to Friendster, Myspace and Facebook. Other groups were discussing on other topics. Through this public speaking session, I regained my confidence and felt accomplished for being able to present in front of the cream of the crop. Mr. Hisham also gave us his valuable comments and motivated everyone of us, which helped us to enhance our public speaking skills. I felt truly benefited from this BEST program.

Nevertheless, what I noticed was that when it comes to public speaking, some of us will start having butterflies in their stomach. So here I got for some tips from Toastmasters website tips to overcome our fear:

1. Know your material. Pick a topic you are interested in. Know more about it than you include in your speech. Use humor, personal stories and conversational language – that way you won’t easily forget what to say.

2. Practice. Practice. Practice! Rehearse out loud with all equipment you plan on using. Revise as necessary. Work to control filler words; Practice, pause and breathe. Practice with a timer and allow time for the unexpected.

3.Know the audience. Greet some of the audience members as they arrive. It’s easier to speak to a group of friends than to strangers.

4. Know the room. Arrive early, walk around the speaking area and practice using the microphone and any visual aids.

5. Relax. Begin by addressing the audience. It buys you time and calms your nerves. Pause, smile and count to three before saying anything. ("One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand. Pause. Begin.) Transform nervous energy into enthusiasm.

6. Visualize yourself giving your speech. Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud, clear and confident. Visualize the audience clapping – it will boost your confidence.

7. Realize that people want you to succeed. Audiences want you to be interesting, stimulating, informative and entertaining. They’re rooting for you.

8. Don’t apologize for any nervousness or problem – the audience probably never noticed it.

9. Concentrate on the message – not the medium. Focus your attention away from your own anxieties and concentrate on your message and your audience.

10. Gain experience. Mainly, your speech should represent you — as an authority and as a person. Experience builds confidence, which is the key to effective speaking. A Toastmasters club can provide the experience you need in a safe and friendly environment.

Well, hopefully the tips provided by Toastmasters will benefit those who are going to give a speech in future. Let us regain self-confidence in public speaking! Harness your nervous energy and transform it into vitality and enthusiasm!

A Leadership Wake-up Call - Concentrate on Soft Skills Improvement

Another beautiful morning with birds chirping when I left home to attend class. Today's topic is on interview. Our beloved speakers Mr. Abdullah and Mr. Faruk taught us how to prepare ourselves for an interview. Mr. Faruk even shared some stories on how he outperformed other candidates in order to secure a place for scholarship to further his studies in the UK. We were also required to discuss in a group the potential questions which we may face during an interview, which I was benefited a lot.

Of course, the best part of the class was that we were asked to attend a mock interview. One interesting question posed to me by my interviewer Mr. Farok was: 'What do you think about the issue of graduates in the current society lacking of soft skills?' Indeed, graduates nowadays are not equipped with soft skills, which we also called 'emotional intelligence'. Examples are work well in a team, easily adapt to new situations, good communication skills, etc. The reason is that most graduate schools do not teach students how to cultivate soft skills. Even though in courses such as Business Writing, there is no such course entitled, "How to listen to your customer effectively?'. We have been living in the world wherein intelligence is measured based on quantifiable metrics alone. You will get good marks for knowing ABC, but will not get an increase in grade for being able to deal with a difficult situation calmly and solving unexpected problems efficiently.

In my point of view, I believe that in order to succeed in the working environment, one has to be positive in all situation and constantly motivate people and oneself. Gone are the days of result-orientated, instead it is the understanding that courage to fail is pathway to success is what matters the most.

I believe the class today is valuable not only to me but my fellow classmates as we were not taught the right way and attitude in face of an interview while pursuing undergraduate degree. I am looking forward for tomorrow's public speaking.

Professional Grooming and Business Etiquette

Finally I have arrived home, back to my beloved homeland. Few days ago I have been 'missing in action' due to a family trip to Vietnam.

Yesterday topic was on profressional grooming. As we all know, first impression always matters in most cases, regardless of venues and time - during job interview, in meeting a client, in getting a partner, etc. Although this sounds cruel, the actual fact is that knowing the correct way of grooming is a comparative advantage in order to 'survive' in this realistic world.

The speaker, Ms. Leilanie (or we call her Leila) inspired me by saying: 'You are the greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into training, grooming, and encouraging your greatest asset'. This saying by Tom Hopkins shows how true it is that one person has the control to him/herself. Why should I say so? Well, for example, to be well-groomed for a job interview, a person (let's call Mr. A), has to invest on time (to learn all the necessary information on how to groom himself, such as what to wear to an interview which appears not too much of an attention-seeker, yet showing your self-confidence), on effort (he needs to get down to the stores and search high and low for a outfit with a reasonable price and feeling comfortable), and money (it always come with a hefty price to invest in a good quality of suit and leather shoes).

The most interesting part of the session is the tudung tying session. I realized that tying tudung is an art as there are several ways of tying it. Although I am not a Malay, I was called upon to be one of the models. This is my first time wearing a tudung. It was really something new to me.

Besides the personal grooming session, we also learnt about dinner table etiquette. From the session I learnt about the do's and dont's which really benefited me a lot. This is because in future I may be an entrepreneur, this means I will be meeting potential clients or venture capitalists. Portraying a good image through proper dinner table etiquette hence become important.

I really enjoyed the whole session on Friday. I am anticipating more interesting activities to enhance my soft skills in facing the world of entrepreneurship.

How to Reach An Audience Through Blogging

When you see this title, you may want to ask: Why do we want to blog for a global audience? The reason is simple. As we step into the 21st century, the world is getting more connected to each other, with more and more people having internet access and are communicating with each other online. It is expected that such trend will continue to increase and internet communication is of crucial importance in social life, in business, and almost in anything.

Dylan Hunt once said: 'Every man is the hero of his own story'. So how do we be a great hero of our own story? Afterall, writing a blog may not be as easy as one thinks. How many of us bloggers are really successful in blogging? Not many I assume. Many people often suffer from poor blog readers or visiters. To most of the bloggers, attracting visiters are not as easy as abc. Why? The simplest reason is that, most people read a blog out of curiousity or to seek for knowledge, however to really follow a blog is a different story. People often link to people they read, or read people they know. From there, bloggers slowly establish reputation in the world of blogging. So how do we increase out blogger base and increase our audience number? There are several ideas that can be considered:

1. Plan

Seriously, I mean, how can we write a good blog if we do not plan? If we fail to plan, we are planning to fail. It is impossible to lauch a successful blog if we do not have a plan in mind. Tell yourself, why do you want to write a blog? Only when you know WHY you want to blog, you will know WHAT you want to blog. Of course, while planning, make sure what you are writing is down to earth and is of originality. DO NOT ever attempt to be pretentious. Write what you know and know what you write. After all, only when you are being yourself that you can unleash the creative brain juice of yours.

2. Design

People often choose not to read what they can't read, or what they find difficult to read. Hence, design plays an important role in writing a blog. A good design can increase the readership by making the blog more accessible and user-friendly. A good blog design usually consists of two main criteria: (1) easy to read - Big and clear fonts allow readers to enjoy reading without straining their eyes; (2) fast loading speed - Slow loading speed page means death of blog. Readers are often lack of patience. More than one or two seconds of time delay would mean you may lost half of your readership.

3. Market

Even when you have written a beautifully planned blog with wonderful designs, it will be off no use if no one knows of your existence. Remember, your blog is your identity, create a unique identity of yours by creating a URL address which in some way expresses your name or who you are. Next, in every place you would put your name, do put your blog address. It can be on your name card, after writing emails, or even when publishing an article. One important thing to remember is that, do put your name in your blog, or else no one will know that this is the right blog of yours.

4. Revise

Once you have blogged for a period of time and followed the above advice, most likely you will start seeing your number of readers increasing. Nevertheless, this is not enough if you do not keep revising your blog. How can you do so? You can do so by listening to our readers. If they send an email to you, reply them promptly, best within two days. If they leave a comment, read it and reply them appropriately. Always remember to thank them for giving feedback. After all, they are providing your blog with something. Accept constructive suggestions. When a substantial amount of readers said that the background design is too colourful, change it to a simpler design; if the font size is small, change them to a larger font size. Always remember, your readers are your audience, they are the one who increase your popularity.

By following the four golden rules: Plan, Design, Market, Revise (PDMR), I guarantee you will eventually succeed in gaining popularity in blogging sphere. Happy blogging! =)

My First Step to An Adventurous Life in BeST programme

' Hello, is this Von Yi?'

'Yup, who's on the line?'

'I'm Ros. Congratulations Von Yi, you are selected for the BeST programme. Are you still interested in this programme?'

'Yes, of course!'

A phone call on Friday and voila, I'm here in UniRAZAK campus . From here onwards, I foresee myself to have a change in my destiny in life, my journey towards an adventurous life. Most of my friends, by now, would be hanging out at the malls, enjoying the holidays, chilling out with a bunch of friends. Well, obviously that's what most students would do after the final exam of undergraduate studies. The so-called self-declared 'Merdeka' is understandable, since most of us have been struggling for 3 years in Monash University, bombarded with lab reports and assignments every week during our undergrad studies. It is like a release from hell, from mental torture.

Nevertheless, I am one who enjoys being stuffed with activities in my everyday's life. I don't like to just sit at home doing nothing. For me, life is more meaningful if we can learn new things, to gain knowledge. How beautiful the world is when you can explore in the vast sea of knowledge. This is when I have taken the offer to join BeST programme.

Even though I have no friends with me, even though being all alone in this programme, I am very certain that the decision to take up the challenge will change my life.

Everyone has his/her first time in life. Because of this programme, I had my first time of taking public transport myself, I learnt to be independent, I learnt to be socializing people of different background from me. And what's more, I made new friends even when I know none of them at all. Being in BeST programme is entirely spontaneous, yet I am anticipating an interesting journey and experience ahead within the next three months in this programme. Hopefully a fruitful experience at the end of this programme.