Intelligent Development Plan – How to Get Ahead of Others
We just had our Iftar. There were I and Fatin. Pretty much, full already. Our tummy, "Blurppp", sorry. We decided not to go back yet, instead we talked about a lot of things covering various topics ranging from our best-friends to college life to popularity to (wait for it) self-help or also known as (wait for it) personal development.
Before i (re) enter university, a week before it, i had developed a 5 months development plan. This plan is developed intentionally to develop certain skills i (personally) believe will help me become a better (hrmmm) person and skill that beneficial to me in the long run (read, till the end of life).
As for Fatin, she seemed fascinated by this. I could see the same enthusiasm i saw on Laina Sofia when i first introduced her to the philosophies i learnt (and shared with her). Undeniably, Fatin had learnt something out of this casual (but serious) conversation. It came to me thereafter, it is better if i could share this with others. I have no idea who else could benefit from this but i certainly believe someone would.
The 5 months development plan is developed with an objective to equip you with several important life skills. Through my (not so experienced) observation, this will help a person to know certain things far better than 90% of the world's population (thus, you are indispensable). Stated are the kind of intelligence you are expected to develop once you done (read, graduate) from this (so called) program - financial intelligence, people intelligence, philosophical improvements, technical skills (specifically, programming skills). Lets look closer into it:-
The first month, August, 2012 (Development of financial intelligence)
Books to read are; I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi, The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
The second month, September, 2012 (Development of people intelligence)
Books to read are; How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, Influence by Robert Cialdini and The Game by Neil Strauss.
The third month, October, 2012 (Development of philosophy)
Books to read are; Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T Kiyosaki, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
The fourth month, November, 2012 (Development of technical skills)
Books to read are; Head First Design Pattern by Eric Freeman, Cracking the Coding Interview by Gayle Laakmann and Clean Code by Robert C Martin.
The fifth month, December, 2012 (Development of startup development skill)
Books to read are; Lean Startup by Eric Ries, The 4 Steps to Epiphany by Steve Blank and The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development by Brant Cooper.
This plan may not be perfect. You may not even like it. But lets take this as an experiment. I started mini version of this 4 years ago and reaped the reward 2 years after. With this expanded version of the plan, this could be (far) better. Good luck!
Tactical Tips On How To Be Exceptionally Good In Your New Job
What would you do when you got a new job? Would you just jump into it and learn along the way or would you put an extra effort to become distinctively better? - i would go for the second one. The follow up question is, how do i go about it?
First thing i need to do is to identify what skills needed for the job. From my (not so scientific) analysis, i found out there are 3 skills i need to acquire in the first 3 months; 1) Excellence in service delivery, 2) Superior/Direct/Boss management, 3) Personality reading
Second, i need to find the source of knowledge (the ultimate source of knowledge is the field-practice itself) and in this case, the right question is, what book should i read?
I went to Amazon (as usual) and set to do research on what book to buy. Using the same method i usually use in book research (i still not sure when im going to cover this topic), i was able to identify 3 books that could fill the needs of the above mentioned (needed) skills.
Crucial Conversation in Practice: Identifying Sensitive Questions And Fixing Them
You could learn much faster if you could identify whats happening on your daily conversation
I met these 2 young ladies at KFC, KL Sentral, recruitment firm executives which happen to live in the same condo (Pantai Hillpark, Kerinchi). They were queuing behind me and i (accidentally) eavesdropping them. I was certain that they are Philippines from their (English) accent. Well its time for me to do something im good at. And we became friends right away.
We decided to sit together and had lunch together. After 15 minutes, there was this distinctive section of the entire session that remind me to the book Crucial Conversion.
Cherry: Are you always like this? I mean, do you talk to strangers often?
Buzz: 2 seconds pause and a blink...
Sherina: Well. of course, we highly respect that. Impressive. Its just, we are wondering, how did you became good at that? Maybe you can share your journey.
Buzz: Ooo, well (story begins...)
Lesson learned: Be careful with the question you are proposing. It may raise someone's "anti-player shield" (ref: The Mystery Method).
If you are about to ask something you (initially) know it could be a sensitive statement, you must first project your respect to the person you are talking to within the context of the question you are about to ask - humility (ref: Crucial Conversation). This will make thehim/her to feel 'safe' which is important in any 'dialogue' (ref: Crucial Conversation).
But not all people good at knowing the particular question is sensitive. Say you dont know the question could be sensitive or not, always be on alert-mode. Try to identify breach-of-safety and if it ever happens, bring him/her back to 'safety (ref: Crucial Conversation)'.
Lets make it better
"Know what? What you've just shown us was impressive. I mean, you can easily get along with strangers which is rare. Awesome, i have to say. What motivates you and how did you master this? We are curious."
First, you mention your respect in advance. Then, clarify. Finally, you asked the original question.
PS: I later learned that Sherina took psychology when she was in school. That tells her ability to master the art of asking and crucial conversation skill.
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