As I have stated in my year 2010 posting that I have a personal reading goal of at least 15 books per year, this year is quite similar as I have managed to read more than the amount that I have set. However, I did not read very intensively in year 2011 compared to year 2010 as I have set priorities in other areas like taking up real estate courses and creating my new housing in Singapore site.

Personally, I start to love the library and the books as they provide a lot of useful information for me to enjoy. Recently, I watched a youtube video by Darren Hardy which my colleagues shared with me that made me ponder about how to make use of the knowledge that I have gained from the books I have read. I think I might have to start learning about taking notes like a student and implement the useful information that I have found in the books into my personal life.

Anyway, the following is the list of books that I have read in the year 2011:

As you can see, I have started picking up a lot on real estate books and a few books on selling. Personally, I feel that things are getting more interesting as I am planning to venture full-time into real estate in a few months time. There are a lot of people that I met tell me to stay put at my job as the economy is getting worst but I really see it as a challenge for myself to learn more through it. I know those people who gave their advice to stay put is fearful about the upcoming financial crisis and hope that I can bear through it without any problems but I feel that in life, we must always challenge ourselves in order to excel and achieve what we want. I do have a belief that we should never give in so easily to life challenges or you will not have really live a meaningful life. I do hope more people can support my point of view and wish me all the best along my journey to success.

Personally, year 2011 is quite an interesting year for me. I have traveled to two different countries through flight and it is my first time enjoying the airplane flight twice in a year. I am pretty happy about the two different trip as one let me see a relaxing lifestyle while the other taught me about the importance of story.

On the other hand, I managed to make a consistent 3 figures income through my internet marketing venture and when I thought everything was going on plan, the google panda update came in and my income was slapped to close to nothing left. Luckily, I do have a backup plan on mind which was to learn to become a real estate salesperson. In my heart, I knew that affiliate marketing was not something I loved to do as I did not have the passion to write those articles of the different niches. After taking the course of real estate salesperson, I realized that what I wanted to learn and do has already revealed itself. In the end, after passing the real estate salesperson exam, I decided to create a housing site with a few partners called Housing in Singapore to become an expert in this industry through the use of internet marketing (which is what I have learnt so far).

The following are the personal successes that I am grateful and proud of achieving in the year of 2011:

- Gone for a trip to Thailand in March 2011 with the winning resort stay at Chiang Mai (Bangkok and Chiang Mai)

- Strike 4D second prize in ibet (buy for fun)

- Start making consistent 3 figures internet income (Got google panda slap after that)

- Win a pair of movie tickets from lucky draw

- Bought my first apple ipod touch which help me a lot in learning through audio books as there are speed listening apps available

- Found a running buddy from my current workplace

- Passed my Real Estate Salesperson Exam with just one try

- Made my first rental commission within a few months

- Started a housing in Singapore project website with a group of partners

- Travel to Shanghai-Jiang Nan (China) for a 8D7N trip which is my first long trip

- Read 21 books throughout the year of 2011

- Decided to set 10 personal values to achieve in myself

- Start to make full use of dropbox and skype for my own real estate site

Are you comfortable with dress smart? Do you realize something about dressing smart do help in boosting our self image plus confidence through the eyes of others and even ourselves. Recently, I have started changing my way of dressing when going to work and I was astonished by the looks and questions of my colleagues in my working areas. The reason for the change of dressing was because I am actually preparing myself for my upcoming career path (Real Estate Salesperson) and I did not really inform a lot of people at my current workplace yet as I do not want to spread the words too soon until the day I am about to leave.

There are questions from my colleagues asking why am I dressing so smartly in a school environment and some even thought that I am actually going for a job interview. However, I do feel surprised that they have this kind of reactions as I am only dressing in smart casual without the full smart shirt yet. Personally, I do know a few colleagues who actually dress up even more formal than me and they gave me a very good first impression whenever I see them as they look smart. Let me ask you a question about what is your expectation when you are going to meet someone who is in the professional field or someone who are going for a corporate  job interview. You will definitely expect them to dress up nicely unless they are someone who has their own style of looking cool (like Steve Jobs). Basically, what am I trying to get to you is that dressing smart is something very important that I feel can help to boost your client’s confidence in you through their first impression and what you really need to build in yourself is that confidence level. However, dressing smart is just a first part of building a good impression in someone’s eyes. There are still things that need to be work on like training yourself on how to speak confidently in front of your clients in order to protrude a  convincing message towards them to show that you are a capable person who can deliver. Other than learning how to speak well, the way you walk with the body language that you deliver is also very important towards boosting the first impression in someone else eyes.

I do not know whether you have different views about how to dress smart to boost impression but this is what I feel through my own observation and experience. Right now, I am on a path to discover more of what I want to achieve in my personal life and also learning from people who have already achieved what I want. Do checkout on this site once a month to find out more of what I will share on this personal site of mine. I will keep track of what I have learned and explored along my journey to success on this personal blog. Cheers.

Recently, I watch this movie called “Coach Carter” and was pretty inspired by the belief that the coach inspired on his team members. Therefore, I decided to share with you this movie that I felt is a must to watch if you are really on your journey to success. I do learn a lot of stuff from this movie itself as personally you can learn how one person can change other people’s lives if he has the belief and persistence. There might be a lot of negativity along your journey but you must really stay persistent with your principles to let other believe that you are providing the values and help.

The following is one of the most inspirational coach carter quotes in the movie:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It’s not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. 

Personally, I am in the transition of moving from a stable job income to become a real estate salesperson which would not have a basic pay as it is fully earned by commission service basis. I do feel the fear in me as there are a lot of commitment in life that I need to keep and it is a new field that I will endeavour . However, I also know that this move will bring me greater experience and challenge to become someone with more confident in myself. There are a lot of fear that I see in myself but I do believe that I will do great along the way if I stay firm with my belief that I will succeed in my journey to success. I will definitely meet more greater people in my journey and I do hope the sites I have created will provide values for people along the way. Do check out and support my housing site at Housing in Singapore. If you have a Facebook account, hope you can support my facebook page at by liking it through the following link at Housing in Singapore. Cheers.

Have you ever been inspired by someone or someone’s product? Personally, I have been inspired by Steve Jobs’s famous quotes,  speeches and even his apple products that he had introduced when he was still around. This post is a tribute towards the recent death of Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011). Thanks Steve for travelling the extra mile to make a difference in people lives by creating great product and saying inspirational words for anyone who is on the journey to success.

The following is the list of Steve Jobs famous quotes that have inspired me and I hope you will be inspired by them too:

1. ”You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

2. “To turn really interesting ideas and fledgling technologies into a company that can continue to innovate for years, it requires a lot of disciplines.”

3. “I want to put a ding in the universe.”

4. ”Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”

5. “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

6. “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

7. ‎”Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful … that’s what matters to me.”

8. ”Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

9. “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

10. “I’m the only person I know that’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year…. It’s very character-building.”

11. “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.”

12. “When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

13. “We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.”

14. “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”

15. “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention in Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.”

16. Stay hungry… stay foolish.”

17. ”You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”

18. ”That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

19. ”I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”

Do give a comment if you really do appreciate what Steve Jobs had done for you or have changed your mindset of the world. Cheers

Recently, I have found this video on youtube that I feel that I should share it with anyone who is reading my blog. Personally, I learn quite a lot through Jim Rohn’s audio books and videos and I feel that we should really learn from him about the lessons of life.

Words from the video:

There are a half dozen things…
…that make 80% of the difference

The difference between triumphant success or bitter failure…

…lies in the degree of our commitment

..to seek out, study, and apply those half-dozen things.

Learn to be happy.

Happiness is activity with purpose

It’s love in practice

It’s both a grasp of the obvious and the mysterious.

Discipline yourself

Discipline is the most critical ingredient for success.

It’s the master key that unlocks the door to wealth and happiness…

…the glue that binds inspiration to achievement…

…the bridge between thought and accomplishment.

We must all suffer from one of two pains:
the pain of discipline
or the pain of regret

The difference is discipline weighs ounces
while regret weighs tons

Embrace change.
Unless you change how you are, you’ll always have what you’ve got.
You can change all things for the better
when you change yourself for the better.

You cannot change your destination overnight,
but you can change your direction.

Live well.

Don’t just learn how to earn.
Learn how to live.
The good life is not an amount.
It’s an attitude,
an act,
an idea,
a discovery.

Remember always…
Life is worthwhile
if you TRY.
Try to make progress.
Try your best.

Life is worthwhile
if you GIVE.
Giving starts the receiving process.

Life is worthwhile if you PLAN.
Design your own life
or someone else will.
Let others lead small lives,
but not YOU.
Let others argue over small things,
but not YOU.
Let others cry over small hurts,
but not YOU.
Let others leave their futures
in other peoples’ hands.
but not YOU.

Personally, I am pretty delighted when I first received my results for the Singapore Real Estate Salesperson (RES) Exam as I managed to pass it with just one try. I am considered lucky as I have classmates who have taken it for a few times before passing it and some of them have not even pass it yet due to their lack of English understanding especially those older generation with their first language as Chinese. Anyway, I am going to share with you how I managed to pass the exam with just one try. I hope this post will be beneficial to those who are currently taking the RES exam as it comes from my own personal experience of taking it.

Before telling you exactly how I managed to pass the real estate salesperson exam with just one try, I have to highlight something to those who are taking my tips to prepare their res exam. Please don’t take things too hard and put the blame on me if you didn’t pass the exam after following my tips as it is really all based on your own understanding. Just remember to have faith in yourself that you will definitely make it if you put your heart into studying it.

Okay, let’s start with the scratch of how to get into the real estate industry first. Firstly, you need to find a real estate company that will provide you a place for you to take the real estate salesperson course before taking the exam. It is compulsory for anyone who wish to join the Singapore real estate industry to take the course unless you are existing old agents. It will be great if you know someone who is already doing it full-time as the person can be your mentor when you join the company. Personally, I do have friend who is working full-time in her real estate business but I did not join her as I want to join a bigger company. After taking the real estate course, you will be given a certificate of completion by the school that you attended and this is the certificate that you used to register for the RES exam. I will not go into the detail of which agency to join or where to take the exam as all these you can ask me in the comment section of this post. I will go straight to the point of how to prepare for your RES exam in order to pass within a try.

Those  of you who have taken the RES exam will know that there are two papers to take and the following is the RES exam format: 

Have you ever watched before the movie called “The Karate Kid” by Jaden Smith with Jackie Chan. It’s a really great movie with a great song sang by Justin Bieber with Jaden Smith rapping part of it. Recently, I got to hear the song “Never Say Never” again and it makes me wanted to find out more about it’s lyrics. After going through the song lyrics, I felt that I should share it with all my readers who are also on the journey to success to learn from this “Never Say Never” attitude.

Personally, I have read before quite a number of self-help materials and most of them are mentioning about persistent is a very criteria towards success in life. Therefore, I felt that this song really suits anyone who are on their own journey to success. Whenever you are feeling down, just remember to sing this song in your heart to remind yourself to never say never from giving up so easily.

I have attached the “Never Say Never” youtube video here for you to listen to the song if you have not hear it before. While listening to the song, refer to the lyrics below to get a clearer idea of what I am actually talking about above.

Never say never
Never ever, never, never ever, never ever

See I never thought that I could walk through fire
I never thought that I could take the burn
I never had the strength to take it higher
Until I reached the point of no return

And there’s just no turning back
When your heart’s under attack
Gonna give everything I have
It’s my destiny

I will never say never
I will fight
I will fight ’til forever
To make it right

Whenever you knock me down
I will not stay on the ground
Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, up, up
And never say never

Ne-never say never
Ne-never say never
Ne-never say never
Never say it, never, never say it

I never thought I could feel this power
I never thought that I could feel this free
I’m strong enough to climb the highest tower
And I’m fast enough to run across the sea

And there’s just no turning back
When your heart’s under attack
Gonna give everything I have
‘Cause this is my destiny

I will never say never
I will fight
I will fight ’til forever
To make it right

Whenever you knock me down
I will not stay on the ground
Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, up, up, up
And never say never

Here we go, guess who?
J Smith and JB
I gotcha lil bro, I can handle him
Hold up, aight? I can handle him

Now he’s bigger than me, taller than me
And he’s older than me and stronger than me
And his arm’s a little bit longer than me
But he ain’t on a JB song with me

I be tryna chill
They be trying to side with the thrill
No pun intended
Was raised by the power of Will

Like Luke with the Force
If push comes to shove
Like Kobe in the fourth
Ice water in blood

I gotta be the best, and yes we’re the fliest
Like David and Goliath, I conquered the giant
So now I got the world in my hand
I was born from two stars, so the moon’s where I land

I will never say never
I will fight
I will fight ’til forever
To make it right

Whenever you knock me down
I will not stay on the ground
Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, up, up, up
And never say never

I will never say never
I will fight
I will fight ’til forever
To make it right

Whenever you knock me down
I will not stay on the ground
Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, up, up, up
And never say never

Ne-never say never
Never say it
Ne-never say never
Never say it
Ne-never say never
Never say it
And never say never

Ne-never say never
Never say it
Ne-never say never
Never say it
Ne-never say never
Never say it
And never say never

The above lyrics is retrieved from DirectLyrics.com.

Anyway, if you can get this song and put it as your ringtone for your cell phone like what I do will be great too as it is really pretty nice. It is quite meaningful and funny especially when the part “Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, up, up, up” is reached while your phone is ringing. Do comment and let me know if you like this song or sharing I have in the comment section.

Image courtesy of Rajiv Patel

Recently, I have been pretty self busy with my mind as there are a lot of thoughts flying through my mind. I feel a bit overwhelmed with my thoughts that really makes me feel so tired about thinking. However, I do remember hearing an idea from Tony Robbins’s material about the why and what questions that we keep on asking in our mind. The main difference between the WHY and the WHAT questions that we prompted ourselves is that one will make us become inaction and another will make us start moving and become motivated. However, make sure you are asking quality questions on yourself in order to get quality answers. Okay, let’s compare between the WHY and the WHAT questions and you will see the differences.

Examples of WHY questions:
- Why did this thing happen to me?
- Why can’t I get this to work?
- Why must I do it anyway?

After seeing the above WHY questions, do you feel a sense of weakness in the questions and feel like a loser who can’t seem to get things to work as things are not moving the way you want it to be. If you are feeling that way, somehow I have caught your attention. Let’s move on to the WHAT questions and you will understand why we should start asking the what questions in order to get things to move.

Examples of WHAT questions in a quality way:
- What are the top 3 things that I can work on now to make it work?
- What are the things I should focus on at this very moment?
- What are the things I can work on to substitute my income?

Examples of WHAT questions in a ineffective way:
- What should I do now?
- What is happening to me?
- What if this thing don’t work out? (negative way – never try to put a if behind your what questions)

As you can see above, I have given some examples of asking the WHAT questions to ourselves and you should be feeling more positive when asking the what questions as it keep you in an active state of mind. Although starting you might not be aware whether you are asking the what questions in a quality way or not, you should get a better result compared to asking the why questions as it keep you in a more positive and active state of mind.

How do you actually determine whether your WHAT questions are quality or not? You can determine through whether it will provide you with at least some excellent answers that will close the loop in your mind and set you to take the necessary actions. Therefore, it is very important to ask quality WHAT questions as it helps to close the loop in your mind to allow you to move on to the next action tasks. Personally, I have learnt some programming skills during my polytechnic days and I know in order for any programs to work, you must always close the loop of whatever tasks you ask the program to do in order for the program work properly and smoothly. 

Anyway, I have managed to pass my real estate exam in one go and I have decided to work on it full-time once I have settled some personal stuff. Personally, I have some doubts in myself that need to be cleared as I know I may not be getting a stable income from the real estate industry but I do feel excited about going through the journey as I can see myself learning the life skills I want from those successful real estate salespersons and my mentors in my company. If you love this post, do drop me a comment or share it with your friends on facebook. Thanks.

Image courtesy of ohaiitsholly▲-back.-’s

Recently, I got a self-thought idea about this question about whether am I giving in to myself too much. I do not know whether do you feel the same way to yourself or not but I do have this kind of feeling that I am giving in to myself too much. I do not wake up on time or finish the things that I am suppose to complete and also delay my schedule of things on hand due to other things that surface up in my life. I do not know whether are you feeling the same way as what I am feeling.

Anyway, let me ask you a question about whether will you be unhappy when your friend is taking advantage of your kindness. If you are feeling unhappy with someone or something, it is because you got your own principles and belief that something or someone should behave a certain way. Therefore, you do not tolerate the way others behave and will not give in to how they behave. However, do you treat yourself with the same principles and belief that you put onto others? Are you expecting yourself to behave the way you want others to behave? If you do expect yourself to behave in a certain way and do not wish to change your belief on yourself when unexpected things comes into place, you have to start to learn how to discipline yourselves to get more aware of your own actions and decide whether you are giving in to yourself or not.

Personally, I feel that in order to achieve what I want in my journey to success, there will definitely be a price to pay. I must not be able to easily give in so easily to my own wish when things occur in my life, I do have to stay firm to my own initially plan and follow through in order to gain the pleasure when see the fruits coming in after bearing through the hardship. Currently, I have settled down to set my definite chief aim in life after thinking through Napolean Hill’s philosophy and I will start to put things into place to fill up the blanks. Will update here again once I start to put the pieces into place. Cheers.