How to Make the Most out of Meet-Ups

Posted by shooperman on Mar 5, 2008 in Conscious Living, Relationships | 1 comment

Photo by kk+

A big part of our social life revolves around meeting and chilling out with friends. Depending on your age group, you could be hanging out at a MacDonald’s, Starbucks, dance club, wine bar, pub, golf clubhouse, private clubs or even local joints where the cheapest beer is sold.

Until recently, I don’t really like to hang out much. I thought I was a quirky-alone, but it turn out I am just bored with the run-of-the-mill conversations that dominate these sessions.

A year ago, I attended a leadership course and got to know a new group of friends. We shared a deeply bonding experience and became very close in those 3 months. Thereafter, a small group of us continued to meet up. As it turns out, I really liked those meet-ups.

This article is about what makes those meet-ups fun for me.

5 Reasons to Start Blogging

Posted by shooperman on Mar 4, 2008 in Blog | 4 comments

Photo by Shooperman

Over the last couple of years, I’ve started a number of blogs. I wanted to get a taste of blogging and learn how it could be applied to the corporate world where I’m doing some consulting work.

During that time, I’ve started quite a number of blogs on various blogging platforms – Mephisto, Tumblr, TypePad, WordPress and Zanga. I’ve also blogged about different aspects of my life – business, trivial, food, hobbies, etc.

In the end, I could only last up to 3 months in each of them, leaving a messy trail of content bits all over cyberspace. I realize I’ve blogged for all the wrong reasons.

This articles lists the reasons why I am back, blogging with a vengence ;)

8 Ways to Beat Procrastination

Posted by shooperman on Mar 4, 2008 in Life Hacks | 0 comments

Photo by PPDigital

We all know what procrastination is. Personally, I’ve been fighting it ever since primary (grade) school. And till today, I’m still not entirely free from its lock, succumbing to it every once so often.

I know that I should not procrastinate. I know I should strive to be conscious about what I do with my time. And I know delaying one thing for any period of time takes out the emotional equivalence of doing it for that duration.

Procrastination is a formidable opponent. It is as smart as you are. There is no ‘one way’ to beat it all the time. You need to arm up many different strategies to beat it in the long run.

This article gives you 8 more ways to beat procrastination with.

How to Handle Conversation Droughts in a Relationship

Posted by shooperman on Mar 1, 2008 in Relationships | 1 comment

Photo by Michael

A conversation drought is the inevitable phase of a relationship when the couple basically runs out of interesting topics to say to each other.

It is one of the toughest tests that you can put a relationship on. From a quick survey I made with friends today, most simply don’t survive the challenge.

I am very interested in conversation droughts because I put a premium on having very deep and engaging sharing in a relationship. My 7-year-old relationship has been threatened on multiple occasions and all I can say is that we’ve been lucky to have weathered them.

Today, I am going to embark on a quest to know the formidable nemesis and develop strategies to overcome it.

Write to Create

Posted by shooperman on Feb 28, 2008 in Creativity | 0 comments

Photo by ToastyKen

There are times when I’m stuck in a rut and cannot seem to get anything done anymore. These days remind me of a Gatorade TV ad featuring Ronaldinho trying very hard to run and kick a ball underwater.

During a string of these days, I discovered a technique to get myself pull myself out of them with very good results. I’ve called it the “Write to Create” process. Here’s how to do it.

If you are going to try, go all the way.

Posted by shooperman on Feb 27, 2008 in Life Hacks | 1 comment

Photo by Hamed Saber

If you are going to try, go all the way.
Otherwise don’t even start.
This could mean losing girlfriends, wives,
relatives, jobs and maybe your mind.
It could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
It could mean freezing on the park bench.
It could mean jail.
It could mean derision.
It could mean mockery, isolation.
Isolation is the gift.
All the others are a test of your endurance,
of how much you really want to do it.
And you’ll do it.
Despite rejection and worst odds
and it will be better than anything else you can imagine.
If you’re going to try, go all the way.
There is no other feeling like that.
You will be alone with the gods.
And the nights will flame with fire.
You will ride life straight to perfect laughter,
it’s the only good fight there is.

Charles Bukowski, Factotum

10 Steps to Saving More Money

Posted by shooperman on Feb 26, 2008 in Money | 1 comment

Photo by Refracted Moments™

In today’s age of easy credit, real luxury lies in being debt-free. I can still vividly recall a couple of weeks back when a younger friend, W, walked into my office and proclaimed how relieved he felt. W had trimmed his debt down 80% and was only a couple of months from clearing them totally.

Being Asian and a Chinese Hakka (a dialect tribe famous for thriftiness), I can easily switch to a ‘saving’ mode whenever the need arises. In fact, the mode will kick in automatically and dependably after a short spending spree.

This post delves into this Hakka man’s bag of tricks and summarizes them into 10 easy steps for you to start saving more money.