Wednesday, September 28, 2005

A drainer

Have you ever had a friend who have a capabilities to “drain” energy from other person just by show up? Haha, kinda ackward? But I have one friend who sometimes do that. Well this few days he’s been draining most of my energy, yea actually some other problem also take part in this draining session. Well I don’t know whether my energy is transferred to him, or it’s just gone into the thin air. I feel so tired and everything just seems not alright. And I think I’m gonna avoid him a bit, because this morning just by appearing beside me he kinda drain my energy that I gather last day.

I think people should increase the emotional reserve in every other people. As you probably know that everytime we talk nice to other people and help them we deposit something into our reserve in his/her emotional reserve for us. On the contrary talk bad, sarcastic opinion, bad treatment is a spending in our emotional reserve. So, I think it’s funny how is my friend handle this emotional reserve. He’s kinda deposit a lot sometimes by saying nice thing, help us, etc. But some other time he spend so much of his reserve and let the balance approaching zero (or negative? Hehe)

Well I just speak out here and learn from this experience..that’s all, I hope you all learn from here too, that sometimes people that you drained your reserve from is not willingly speak to you that your balance is approaching zero J

Monday, September 26, 2005

Singapore experiences

Last week I went to Singapore on business purposes. This is the first time I go outside of Indonesia, so believe me you’re gonna read so much about my experiences here. First impressions of this country is hilarious, wonderful and amazing. So what is the thing that make think that way? And what is the thing that we can learn from it?

Discipline & Order – one thing that amaze me most. I’m really surprise to see them queing, no one and no sign is being put there to say that they must queue. But they do actually. And the results is orderness. No heavy traffic jam, since every driver know how to drive well and every pedestrians know how to cross the street without causing a traffic jams. So I wonder, could we Indonesian, start from myself could copy this discipline and make the environment around us a little bit better place to work and life? Could we start with something small like : put the trash on its places, start meeting on time, cross the street using manner, not to smoke in public, give a way to other people while we’re driving? I know it would feel like hell if we do that in Indonesia, but do you….I mean YOU want to make your surrounding a better place to live and work?

Customer oriented – Like I told you previously that going to singapore is the first time. So there are so many experience there that are new for me. Like how to get to the MRT, how to buy the tickets, how to walk around there, etc. But amazingly everytime I need to ask something and I’m looking around…blast there you go the answer is put over a sign / billboard. For some of you who may be it’s an ordinary thing, but for me it’s amazing. Because I know that how do they prepare to do that? They think and feel like a customer (a tourist in this circumstances). So they try to think & feel how the tourist will start losing their way, and they put something to help them there. So it make a really nice place to go to, since you don’t get confused easily. So, do you put yourself in your customer shoes everytime you do your jobs? Do you think and feel like them? Or do you just assuming that they will know that, or that they will come to you at the end if they don’t know that? If you like to make you customer happy, then you should think like them and feel like them. Hire them if required.

Get dizzy with big thingSingapore (compare to Indonesia) let their people dizzy with many other thing, and not many small thing like : traffic jam, security while we are walking in the street, polutions, smoke, public transport, etc. They let their people focus on their job and life by making all this “small” thing gone. Do you do that while you are working? Do you let your people, your subordinates, busy with many small things that are non-productive? Or do you provide all the thing that they required so that they could focus on their jobs, instead of many @*&!#(&#(! Kinda stuff J

Do it fast – They walk fast, they talk fast, they think fast, they anticipate fast, they work fast…do you?

Well I don’t really remember all the thing I got from there…actually I start to forget, that’s why I spend my time to write it down. May be next time if I remember anything else I shall write it down again, c u later on. Have a nice day.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Condusive environment

This morning there is an interesting talk in the radio. It gives comments about Indonesia’s way to fight poverty. It critiques said that Indonesia will never solve the poverty problems if we keep on doing short term action, such as subsidize the poor in the form of some money give to them in certain period of time. The good solutions should create a condusive environment, such as make tax more reliable and thrustworty so that small business could grow up faster.

Condusive environment, this is something that we also sometimes forget to create. We keep doing short term action just to keep the problem diminised as soon as possible. We are not creating a condusive environment that in the long term will create a better working conditions. Let just say are we choosing to increase our employee salary or make them understand how to manage their own personal financial? Or we keep send them to a training center, or crearing a learning organization where everybody love to read, learn and discuss many different issues?

This are something that we need to think about carefully, since if we doing it right may be we can make our life even better and easier J have a nice day.

IDR Rebound

Yeeei.. J Rupiah (IDR) is getting strong and stable at around 10.000 / USD. Hopefully is getting more and more strong and stable for the sake of this country. GBU

Monday, September 19, 2005

Some of this day story

Today when I wrote this email is Saturday, I went to a material store, I bought a wall paints. Well, I wanted to be green. But choosing which green is the one is not as easy as it seems. After 15 minutes looking at color sample, I choose one of the green color available. But at night when we go to another shop, I know that the color that I bought is not the one that I want L. This is so sad and disturb me. It seems it is one the bad side of my personality…feeling not comfortable when something is not done yet. So tonight I am not feeling quite well, I mean that my mood is not good. Hopefully tommorrow will be better. Good night…..

Opportunity

This last couple of day I have an offer, a very challenging offer, very good offer indeed. But nothing in this world is that perfect right? Seems like this offer will also potentially bring many problems. Altough it is not a definite thing, but still it make my heart shattered and worry. How about many other people envy? How they gonna react, etc. In this time of doubt there are some events that are really helping me, I wanna share it with you all.

One thing is back almost 15 years ago. At that time I go to my grandmother house. There one of my uncle said that I have to study very hard. Opportunity is consists of 3 things : skill/capability, opportunity and resources (such as time, money). He gave me an example from his own experience, he cannot study at higher level because one of this 3 things is not available. So he said to me, if you have these 3 things don’t you ever let go what ever that come to you.

The second thing is come from my colleagues. She said that “opportunity doesn’t come twice, and the higher you are the lonelier you are”. I really thanks her for this small words. This sentences that she send through sms is really helping me to pass through this difficult time. I hope she read this, and I wanted her to know that I will not give up. I will prove myself.

The last thing that accidentally also happen at the same day is 2 songs that being played at karaoke when I and some of my friends go out. The first song is “Reach” from Gloria estefan. It lyrics said “…..if I could reach, higher. I put my spirit to the test, I’ll do my best, if I could be stronger….”. All of this sentences is making me realized that opportunity doesn’t come twice, so now it’s just a matter of how you stretch yourself, how you put your spirit to the test, do your best and becoming stronger and better. Then you could reach it, reach something higher then anybody else ever reach. The second song I don’t really remember the titles, but it also said that opportunity doesn’t come twice and you could do it, yes, you could. Just trust yourself, do your best.

So, altough it is still a hard time for me, altough still many thing need to be prepared and done, I believe that I could do the best. I wanted to show myself, so even I am not as good as they expected to be I shall not ever feel dissapointed. Because I know that opportunity doesn’t come twice, and I put my spirit to the test, strecth it, become stronger and reach to the top.

Indonesian oil crisis

Ever heard about Indonesian oil crisis? This night I heard in television about Indonesian’s oil crisis. Well, I really don’t know that this country has suffered so many thing. From the year of 1977 until now there has been a lot of change, Indonesia is no longer a big – great country who could deliver oil more then OPEC limit to. Its production is getting less and less. What cause this problem is so complicated.

One thing that I learn from here is that the root of the problem could be created long time ago. Do you ever reflect your job, your life…and everything that you do? Maybe just maybe, that we do something wrong. Something that the effect of it so small that we don’t realized it until someday in the future we are shocked by it. Shocked because at that time we understand that the root of all this problem is bury so many years ago. So complicated that we so confused to fix that out. Just like Indonesia with the oil problem today.

So let us just set back for a moment, try to watch our life today. What we do today, are we making anyone hurt? Smile if you do not, and fixed that out if you do.

Love 'em or Lose 'em - #4 - Dignity

I start to read this wonderful book once again. It still amaze me J

How we respect people and subordinates is so important. Try to look at yourself, do you have any prejudice? If you do, come on, start remove it. Don’t look people by the color of their skin, status, age, geographics origin, etc. Like Abraham Lincoln said “I do not like this person. I must get to know him better

If you have a sloopy moods (moods that goes like a roller coaster), then you should start to controlled it. Because whether you realized it or not sometimes when you are in bad mood you could other people feeling. And believe me you don’t want to do that.

Notice your employees. Pay attention as you walk, say hello to them by name. Smile, shake hands and greet your employees. They will feel honored, trust me on this one, because I once feel it on my own.

Trust, one word that sometimes so hard to earn and give. I myself still think that trust must be earn, not give. But still I give flexibility, and I promise to give, say, act like I trust them. Because I know and I feel it by myself that being trusted is more than anything, it is sometimes defined as success.

Fair is fair. Fair for you is not always fair for anybody else, so please ask them, understand them. You need to know what the word fair mean to them. As you think that you fair and they don’t then you shall lose them fo sure.

Anybody home? This subtitles is tickling me. I wonder what it means. At this book it said that sometimes as boss you so busy that you don’t even care for your employees. You forget that they once ask you for leaving permission, or a seminar registration, or a story that his/her mother is sicks. Spend your time, make yourself available and reachable by them. Listen, react quickly, don’t let them nag you.

At the end of the day respect and dignity is all about attitude. Something that is not easily created. So if you know that you have a homework then you should really fix that out from now on.