Brand Malaysia mentioning AlwaysWoW!

Mack, over at Brand Malaysia wrote a very nice, and funny piece about this German blogger. And he got it right. I like Laksa, be it Penang Laksa or the one made by my mum-in-law.

I love Teh Tarik and how this came about is a different story to be told another day.

Let me expand on what Mack said. My basic intention of blogging is to blog about everything that I like and that I don't like. I am a critical guy, but hopefully seen as constructive. This part comes from my German heritage, and it is in me thanks to my parents.

Okay - some words about Germans - and sorry, if I am offending someone, please see this as a VERY general description. Well, I believe Germans have a tendency to see things critical, and very often, see the world way too pessimistic. May be I should say they see things negatively critical. In my opinion, this has something to do with their historical background that reaches way beyond Hitler's Third Reich. I have to say this to avoid being misunderstood - I believe that Germany's paranoia let to the rise of Hitler.

But I am detailed oriented, just like other Germans. Numbers drive me - colleagues in my office say that anything I say is supported by data and facts. I guess they are true, but hopefully, this is not boring.

I don't see myself as boring. People tell me that I am very different from the Germans they know to which I reply, that I was expelled from German because I am laughing and smiling too often. Germans are pretty serious people.

So yeah - that is also the motto of this blog - Make Your Life A WoW:

• Don't do boring things - those things that are boring to you might be exciting to others. Like, not everybody loves numbers.
  
• If you have to do something that is not too exciting, try the hardest to make it a great thing (is this a contradiction?). Try to find the gem in there that excites you. Be the greatest in what you have to do;
• Don't take yourself too serious. Have a smile readywhen things turn sour. Be open to change course;
  
• Be respectful - Show the same respect to a 5 year old, to a 90 year old, to a receptionist or to a CEO. They are all humans and have a role to play in life. And they have to say something;
  
• Be compassionate and helpful. Don't ignore the bad things in life. Like the Tsunami catastrophy, I try to do my share and donate, and help, and inform, and post pictures. When I watch TV, read the newspapers or personal events on blogs, I am struggling with emotions. Or, just think about the service you deliver today to a customer - try to do your best. Just provide the best customer service your company has ever given. Go out of your way to help.
  
• Show patience and be tolerant to mistakes and failures. Something I am struggling with and that my kid teaches me. I learnt that if he doesn't understand one way of explanation, it is not necessarily his mistake or fault. May be I have to find a different way to explain things to him. Or, that he keeps asking and asking and asking and asking - I think it is great. I have to overcome my sleepy head and respond to his questions. And well, if it is late and he actually should sleep, I have to tell him that there is more time the next day to ask more questions. In one of the presentations by Tom Peters is a slide that states - Punish mediocre success. Celebrate great failures. How true!
• Be honest and integer - It is tough sometimes, to find the way to do things right. It is easy to just do things, even so they might be wrong. I have learnt that I have to listen to my feelings. If I don't feel okay doing something, I believe I should not do them.
• Be a CEO of your life. In anything you do, you have the power to change, to enhance, to enrich. or to destroy. It is your life. Live it to the fullest. Find opportunities to make things better, if you face challenges. Enjoy those challenges.
  
• Find positive things that blow you away. Living a Wow also means to find those things that enrich life. That give the energy to get going and keep going. To make me get up at 6.00 AM every morning (okay, not the weekends)
  
• Be passionate. People ask me what they should study, what job they should take. Hey - do what you like to do. If you find the one thing in life that really, really drives you, something that makes you really, really happy, do it. If you are alone in the field or if there are 100,000 others - your passion for this one thing will make you stand out, and will make you successful. Just do it, as Nike said. There are enough people that do things they don't like for reasons that sound odd and worn like old socks.
  
• Learn, share knowledge but unlearn. Why not? It is great to learn new things and even better if you share those with others. They might just know the things you need to know to move on. But just like life changes, knowledge needs to evolve. Since the world appears to move faster today, there is a lot that we need to learn new everyday. We cannot hold on to old rules, regulations and requirements. There is a constant need to try something new and to forget what we learnt yesterday.
• Be yourself. Don't imitate anybody. Find your own self. And live it

There is plenty more to say, but this is the basic motto for a Great WoW in Life.