#11 You are not Nobody, You are Somebody

We should recognize and acknowledge our talents, only to have the capability to fully unleash the true potentials hidden within us

     It was at one typical Sunday morning, I woke up super-early just to catch the sunrise on the hilly terrains of a golf course.

Gazing up at the skies, I was pondering how great it would be if everyone could choose what type of person they are, how they wanted to be – at the first place. Because if we do, we would not have all the excuses to blame on the root of the problems in the event things go extremely wrong.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we have all the great chances that come from every part, every corner of world, and they pop up right in front of us? Just like the air around us, surrounded by vast spaces and have a limitless extent of boundary.

But life is not a bed of roses; we cannot just imagine how fortunes will come without us practically striving for it. Just like the prospect of the money falling from the skies, it is virtually impossible. If we do not appreciate the values of the opportunity whenever it comes to us, that elusive moment would then be a foregone conclusion.

Most of us do not plan to fail, but fail to plan. I found this phrase from an abstract of a book and it gave me enlightenment on the importance of self-value in a person.

All of us have our own strengths and weaknesses. Growing up in different environment and culture, everyone do have the unique strengths that play in their hands. Meanwhile, I feel most of us do have one weakness in common. It is the inability to pinpoint and understand what type of person we are indeed. We seldom know what we want and what to expect from others.

Just as the phrase mentioned goes, most of us fail to plan. The failure in planning is in the sense we feel dishearten when people criticize us, we feel what others say are truer than what we think. Why is this so? It is because we lack the understanding of our key capabilities and inabilities. Our mental approach plays an integral part when we receive feedbacks about us. If we do not know what type of person we are, when somebody talk something bad about us, we tend to believe in. We magnify the weaknesses in our own eyes. In such circumstances, it is viewed as a self-destruction behavior.

On the contrary, if we know our strengths and weaknesses well, we know the how-to to deal effectively with criticisms.

Remember? When we are kids, our parents still encourage us even though make mistakes. But the moment we grow up and stepped into the society, nobody will care about us just like how our parents did.

In the working world, everyone seemed to be so materialistic and power hungry. They will find even the tiniest of flaws in our work and make us feel extremely bad. In fact, it is worth realizing the fact that not all the comments made by our bosses or colleagues on us are necessarily the right call.

Strange but true, our mindsets and perception constantly affect the way of our thinking. For example, if we think we are capable enough to complete a task, we are certainly up to it. At the end of the day, it is the belief that determines the fruit of success.

Knowing how-to and really putting your hands to do something are entirely different agendas. If you know how to operate a machine, it does not mean you know the loops and holes in it because you do not use it. Although you do not have first-hand knowledge on that machine but still try to explore the gimmicks behind it, would put you in a better situation than the former’s case.

Similarly, if we know our key strengths already, why not we maximize our talents in that specific area? We do not want to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Because if we are specialized in cooking, definitely we should not go for baking classes. Just like how an exponential graph look like, the longer you take to realize your strengths, the distance between you and your goals grow multiple folds.

One of the happiest things that ever happened to us would be the people around us are aware of our existence. They are aware of how important we are and how great the impacts we bring to their lives.

Being able to achieve that is already worth millions of Christmas. If you feel you are already in that category or more than that, then congratulations! You can pop your confetti because it gives you something good to celebrate.

By: Vincent Ti

#10 Take a Deep Breath and Recite

The feelings of sorrow can be hard to bear, give it a go and appreciate what we have for now

     There are always ups and downs in everyone’s life. We cannot predict what will happen tomorrow because if we do, everything will be foreseeable.

Research found that drinking coffee keeps the brain cells healthy,
so the next time you get mad at somebody,
sit down and take a sip of coffee and relax

Similarly, when we get to know someone, we do not have any knowledge on that person’s background. We do not know what is up in the minds of that person. It is imperative to have reservations and not to treat a person with all our heart until we find them trustful and dependable.

Just as my mother constantly cautioned me, my lack of patience is the foremost of my transgression. I am reckless, impatient and impetuous when dealing with things. When dealing with people, I often lose my patience when I see someone not doing things up to my standards. I lose my temper most of the time, and, as a result, the people who work with me find me so ‘uncool’.

     

If that statement was proven to be correct, then I am bad in dealing with people whom I entirely not familiar with. Because of my impatience, things would have turned awry given my poor management in the PR. Whatever it is, gone are the days where I always shout at the others that often led to more ensuing arguments. I started to realize that anger management is very important and lashing out at someone is not a wise option either. 

So when we feel angry the next time, take a deep breath. Try to calm down by finding something to do which we find them pleasing and enjoyable. Remember, we should not let trivial matters let us down. There are more people that need our attention, just like our family members. We should not invest too much of our time and energy on something that hardly reap any dividend. Think of our parents and family members who care at us the most.

By: Vincent Ti

#9 Be Afraid of Dark

     The word ‘love’ can stand for several different meanings if we search for it in the dictionary. One of the most common meanings for that word can represent the feeling of a warm personal attachment or deep affection, towards our parents, friends or even our life partner.

But what if our feeling of ‘love’ towards someone falls on deaf ears by them? Should we carry on with that commitment which we initially believe it will work in reality or should we just forget about it and goes on with life? Talks are always easier than done. In fact, when a person is entangled in a one-sided relationship, the sense of helplessness, confusion and perplexity are often more than a bitter pill to swallow.

Believe me, a true relationship always require genuine connection, attachment and involvement from both parties. A one-sided relationship will never last for long, if it does not fail.

Personally, I am not an expert in relationship but you cannot call me a dumb in this area for what I have experienced during these few years. I vividly remembered my father told me that every first love will most probably not last forever. Neither one can find his or her eventual life partner in their first attempt of love.

To put everything into perspective, if we truly want to make our first love works, we certainly have to pull our socks up in order for that relationship to prevail.

Also, in a relationship, there is a cruel fact that does not guarantee all our hard work and efforts being poured in will be rewarded with reciprocal action by the opposite. At a certain point in our relationship, we will inevitably feel aggrieved by the lack of response from our partner.

We always feel that as long as we have done our every best, our partner can feel it eventually. In reality, only our opposite half knows better if they can sense our contribution and commitment towards them.

Here the problem comes, in a relationship, when we feel that we have given our 100%, we expect our partner to do the same. 

What if the so-called ‘100%’ is just returned with 50% or 60% back to us? What if our partner tells us that he or she thinks there is someone else in his or her mind apart from us? Feeling angry and unappreciated?

If you ask me what would be my action, I can just say that I will divide my opinion into two versions in handling the problem, depending on the existing situations, ways of communication between a couple and a multitude of factors.

For the first option, we can speak and discuss directly to our partner regarding the problem to sort out the ideal solution together. But what if our partner still could not make up the mind in the end?

Are we going to get real mad about it and slam the door before walking away? At most of the time, this is not the right way to vent our frustrations as it may result in a more horrendous aftermath.

For the second option, we explore something which is absolutely contrary to the aforementioned method. I strongly feel that the former involves anger, hatred and jealousy at most of the time. Yes, it is true that it may work on certain people but when facing with a mild mannered and undecided type of person, it backfires.

In using the second method, it strongly requires patience and an awful lot of dedication from a person. Just ask yourself: ‘Am I really love that person?’ If you think that person is worth waiting for, then just let it be and give some time for our partner to decide.

    

The biggest fear in a relationship is when facing with the trauma of broken heart. The feeling of agony, anguish and hurt are identical to a shattered glass. Once the glass is broken, we can hardly join them back as if it is in its original state. In my first relationship, when facing with argument or even knowing that the opposite was committing infidelity at the back of me, I felt OK because I realized it was not worth feeling sad for a woman I do not love.

In my second relationship, which is also the current one, my heart cries when I learn that I could not completely win my girlfriend’s heart over ‘just’ because she has someone else whom she think she could not give up.

I felt lost and was suffering from emotional pain at certain point, again and again. Just as I mentioned earlier in this post, there is always no guarantee of return for all our efforts, no matter how hard the struggle is in the process. In the end, the commitment could rendered meaningless if the opposite does not see the actual values of it, including love. Looking back at what had happened, I was pretty perplexed with the astonishing fact that I could even put up with my girlfriend over some fiery arguments in the past weeks.

Call it kismet or what; I started to agree upon a statement made by a profound figure I met a few years ago. If something that really belongs to us, it stays with us forever. If something does not belong to us, no matter how hard we fight for it, it would not stay with us either.

The same rule applies to a relationship, if someone is destined to be with us, there is no way for our partner and us to stay apart. Therefore, there is no point to force a relationship to go on when both parties find themselves unhappy over each other’s companion.

It is true that suffering from constant heartache in a relationship will cast a shadow in our conscience. It is true that suffering from a love failure may impede and hold us back and to have reservation for another relationship in the future. It is all true because we felt as if we have fallen deep down into a tunnel, covered with no lights, all the darkness…

How should I describe all the feelings and translate all of them into words? I wonder.

Perhaps if we look at the bright side would probably bring some relief in the sense of gaining more experience for our future relationship. There is no point to fill our mindsets with negativity. After all, it does not bring any benefits to our daily lives. Because it is just a matter of time before we can find our way out of the dark tunnel, isn't it?

As the title of this post suggests – be afraid of dark. It should not be misinterpret as we should be afraid after we fall to the ground in our first attempt of walking. Our feet hurt when we fall, but it is a matter of how we can prevent it from happening again as in the same manner in the first fall.

To learn smarter and be more careful in our steps will be the key that prevents us from making the same mistakes that led us to the first fall. As a whole, if we are to avoid the painful experiences we had today, we should remember the pain and suffering they bring to us.

Look at the bright side. Forget about the past and focus on the future. We cannot make adjustments to anything that had happened but we can make the road ahead of us better. Nothing is impossible because there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

By: Vincent Ti

#8 Changing with Time

Things can change very quickly and if we remain in our origin all the time, we may not improve as the others

     Imagine. A bowl of noodles costs a few bucks a decade ago, but the price for the same item today has doubled up or even more than that! Not to mention the price of that bowl of noodles in my parents’ time, it has skyrocketed after dozens of years.

People in the past would satisfy and consider themselves lucky enough if they own a typical road car but we just feel only a luxury car makes us look good today. As a matter of fact, the single element that holds the key to a different environment we lived in today lies within the word – change.

I was clueless with how fast things have changed until I looked back at my childhood photos on one particular day. In fact, it does wonder that how fast time has sneaked without us realizing it.

Many of us would consider every day is just an ordinary day but if you put a tick at the start of the month on the calendar, and, look at it again after some time, you will notice how fast the time has passed indeed. 

Notwithstanding, just as everything around us are changing all the time, are we doing the same for good or stay firm with our way-old life principles? In the construction industry, doing manual and hand calculations was a must for every engineer in designing a project. 

The tide has changed today as engineers are equipped with state-of-the-art software combining the effective spreadsheets to enable them to key in the databases. For engineers who are familiar and used to the traditional methods, they must find a fix to it in order to adapt themselves to the new programs.

Indeed, it is worth realizing that we need to keep ourselves abreast with the latest happenings around us and take the necessary approach to change our way of working or behavior if we want a better outcome of our job – all the time – in whatever endeavor.

One of the differences between the parents of today and the past is the way they treat their children. Parents in the past do not pamper their kids too much and the kids would be caned if they are caught behaving inappropriately. Parents that we see today do not set de rigueur standards at their home and realize the current generation of young people are immune from punishment.

Similarly, in a relationship, our partner is constantly hoping for us to change for the better – with time. For example, if we are bad-tempered, egotistic and inconsiderate, definitely our partner wants us to get rid of our bad traits. We cannot always expect the people next to us to tolerate with our brash attitudes if we desire a harmonious relationship with them, for sure.

There is one golden rule when it comes to dealing with daily problems and if we cannot fully prioritize that practice, regardless of how good we are: We are not perfect. It is never about the people around us and it is always about how we make changes to ourselves to influence effectively. 

By: Vincent Ti

#7 Understanding 2014 Formula One TM Engines – Technical Specifications and Configuration

     I started to watch Formula One since 2007 and my passion for the sport has grown increasingly fond ever since. With so many technical changes and sophisticated tweaks to the entire grid that take place this year, one of the most eye-catching and sporting designs lies within the turbo’s installation in the Mercedes ‘power unit’ that effectively makes the German marque so dominant in the first few races of the season.

     In 2014, Formula One no longer use the V8 2.4 litres engines as what we have seen in previous years, the sport has replaced it with the all-new V6 1.6 litres turbo direct injection engines. In fact, it is referred as the V6 ‘power unit’ instead of the term ‘engine’ that we usually used. The reason is because the engine configuration in the car is no longer consist of a pure engine to run and fire up the entire vehicle but comprises six separates single elements that we classify them as the;

ü  Engine

ü  Motor Generator Unit – Kinetic (MGU-K)

ü  Motor Generator Unit – Heat (MGU-H)

ü  Energy Storage (ES)

ü  Turbocharger

ü  Control Electronics (CE)

     In the new turbo era, not only the reliability and driveability of the car is the concerns, having a car with the most efficient energy management and horsepower is equally important. In order to boost more horsepower to the car, the turbocharger and intercooler (which cools down the turbo) will play a significant part. The turbo in the power unit basically consists of two parts – the turbine (hotter side) and compressor (cooler side). Therefore, it is up to how the engine manufacturer alter changes and install the turbo within the power unit that makes it thick. We take a brief look at how the three engine manufacturers – Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault – in the grid fared in terms of their respective turbos configuration as well as their resultant performance.

Mercedes

With different component installations on Mercedes’, Ferrari’s and Renault’s power units, we can easily differentiate the three engine manufacturers’ fundamental concepts.

Mercedes have split their turbo into two parts in their turbo configuration. As we can see from the picture above, the compressor, the blue part of the turbo (left), is separated from the turbine, the red part of the turbo (right). At the same time, we can see the MGU-H, which harvests waste heat energy, fixed to the compressor and mounted in a ‘V’ between the two parts of the turbo.

a)      Advantages

Since the hot and cool parts of the turbo are being separated, we know that the heat transfers between the components are minimized. To pump more power to the engine, we need to keep the air in the compressor (that draws air in) as cool as possible. When the heat transfers within the two turbo elements are minimized, more power is able to be extracted for the engine.

Moreover, the intercooler will have lesser workload (perhaps a smaller intercooler is adapted) for cooling demand in the turbo. A smaller intercooler used will have the benefit of a better and tighter packaging of the car, making it more aerodynamic-wise. As the turbo compressor is placed directly in front of the engine, there is more room to move their transmission closer to the center of gravity, another considerable advantage.

If that is not enough, the MGU-H mounted in between the two turbo components act to make the whole unit more efficient. As the MGU-H now has the privilege to drive the compressor, the turbo gains more electrical power before feeding it to the MGU-K located at the bottom of the engine. Now, the compressor is able to deliver more, thus reducing turbo lag and increasing power.

b)      Disadvantages

There is no drawback in the designs because basically the heat transfers between the turbo components are reduced, the car is able to have a better aerodynamic package and so on.

Ferrari

I remembered I read something like;

‘Mercedes have a reportedly 80hp more than their rivals engines’

That means Ferrari and Renault may trail the Brackley-based team in terms of power delivery. Nevertheless, the Ferrari’s turbo configuration is somehow slightly identical to the Mercedes’ installations. But it is not known whether the MGU-H is mounted in a ‘V’ as we seen in the Mercedes’ because I could not find much information about that in the Internet.

Anyway, Ferrari are reportedly placing their MGU-H in between their two turbo components like we see in the Mercedes’ case, but the MGU-H is not attached directly to the compressor, instead,  it is mounted somewhere along a duct between the two turbo components. Perhaps related to problems like cooling or fixation hindrance that the MGU-H could not be attached directly to the compressor.

Renault

If we compare Renault’s and Mercedes’ power units turbo component installations, it is notable the arrangement of their concepts are different. Basically to introduce more power to the engine, the more the cool air is, the better it is. Renault have the compressor and turbine bolted together in their set-ups. This means there is heat transfers between the two parts. As a result, a larger intercooler is needed to maintain the optimum temperature of the charged air flowing into the engine.

Next, when the MGU-H is mounted to the compressors, we can see both turbo components are driven simultaneously with a central duct driving through it. (Whereas Mercedes’ solution offers the possibility of driving the two turbo elements independently)

By: Vincent Ti

#6 Have the Wow-factor, Stand Out among the Best

Always be the first one to reach out for the others in whatever situation

     When we were little, we were educated to say ‘Thank You’ when we receive something from someone as a simple gesture as well as an expression of being grateful. 

When we accidentally spill a cup of coffee on the table of our friend, naturally the first thing that comes to our mind is to apologize profusely in order to soothe our friend’s immediate anger. At times, all of us are pleased to mix around with someone with good manner and impress us the most.

The manner in which how we treat the people around us will determine how the others view us. In other words, the way how the others treat us is a blatant reflection of how we treat them in our daily lives. We cannot change the perception of the others on us, but one thing for sure is, our every action and behaviour will change the way they treat us, if not for good.

It is normal for us to feel happy and appreciated when someone treat us good in a way we wanted it to be, and, peeved when we feel we do not get the treatment we deserve. But the perennial question is why certain people among us always stand out and likeable by their peers whereas some appear less amiable? We are all human and our natural instincts favour dwelling in an environment blended with cheerful people and positive vibes rather than the dooms and glooms.

If you greet a colleague in your workplace today but were rewarded with a distasteful reply, and then you greet him whenever you have the chance again tomorrow but still reap the same respond, then it is OKAY and nothing to be dispirited about. The moment you have the opportunity to say ‘Hi’ to him for the third time, fourth and so on, there must be an event that particular colleague will greet you in return because he feels repentant and disgraceful on his past actions.

What I am trying to endorse is not to ask everyone to repeatedly greet every single person we get to meet but we must acknowledge the fact that even the most ‘erratic’ type of person have a soft spot. Referring to this, it brings us back to the first line where I stressed everyone of us would prefer someone who treat us good rather than bad. Therefore, it is always up to us how we treat the people around us no matter what kind of person they are.

Being successful is different from having good affiliation with the people around you. We may be successful in our lives, yet, we may not be successful in building rapport with our subordinates or relatives. By putting everything into perspective, we can be mega-rich – having all sorts of property, cars, cash and almost everything; but that cannot be fully translated as being successful in us, if nobody think that we are good enough and undesirable at times. 

If we want more cash in our pocket or simply own a more luxurious car, we have to work harder to earn more money. But building strong and bona fide rapports with people around us is a money-can’t-buy enterprise. Instead, it requires virtue and dedication from us for a period of time to really win over the heart of others.

And there must always be some criteria to follow in order to achieve that. From my point of view, I have broken the criteria into five simple ground rules:

    Top 5

Always be the first one. It ranges from a multitude of aspects – greetings, carrying out a task, proposing an idea, striking a conversation and many more. Having said that, it does not mean being the second or even the last person of doing something is a failure, but by becoming the first party to do so is simply amazing. 

If we are to meet someone for a meeting during the lunch break, then be the first one to say ‘Hello’ upon seeing that person. If we know we have a mission or a task to complete, take the initiatives to start that task earlier. If we just get acquainted with a new friend, try to find some topic for a conversation rather than being shy and remain silent the whole time. All in all, it takes effort to make it. But considering the final rewards of that change, why don’t we have a go for it?

   Top 4

Take a look at yourself. When the outcome of a labour does not meet our expectations, we blame the others. We seldom think that the failure in a venture or business that we participated in could be our mistakes or fault by some means. Well, I would say it goes both ways because, in the end, wrong is wrong. There is no statement such as who is right most and who is wrong the least. Since we cannot overturn the results of a predicament, it is wise not to point the fingers when things go wrong and instead, focus on our own mistakes to see if any improvements can be made.

    Top 3

Be trustworthy and develop trust. As I mentioned earlier, true friendship and strong networking are impossible to achieve if we are affluent alone. We have the responsibility to uphold the right moral values in us if we want genuine friends in our social activities. When someone request our assistance to help him for the first time, it is imperative that we perform that task efficiently. The goal is not to win over the heart of many but to show that we do not take any things assigned to us lightly. If we think we are not up to that task, then it is better for us not to take it up.

   Top 2

Respect yourself. Coming to the Top 2… arguably one of the most important aspects in human well-being. Think of the feeling of the others and do not neglect your privilege at the same time. In fact, we are all the same in our own rights – we are all unique and irreplaceable in a sense that there is only one of us. Imagine. If we are behaving awfully bad in front of the others, we lose our image and standards. The way how the people around us perceive us change absolutely because our actions and behaviours do not reflect the respects we deserve from the others. There is always no other method to change the perception of the others on us except for ourselves. If we do not respect ourselves by behaving accordingly, then how are we going to expect the others to respect us?

 Top 1

Smile more often. Ha! For Top 1, your guess may be as good as mine. There it is! Smile. The choice is between being a cheerful and happy-go-lucky person and a heavy-hearted person. While researches suggest smiling can secrete a hormone in the brain called dopamine which is responsible for making a person happy, smiling easily beat the blues away and make us look brighter and more confident. Also, we like to mix and talk to people who always appear to be happy. The same thing goes to the people around us, they like to see us smile. There is no boundary between a happy and a sad person, the only exception is their mindsets.

We may not always be the man who can stand at the top because someone can be better than us. At least, the ‘best of the rest’ tagline should be adopted when you feel discouraged. We cannot ensure that we always remain to be the best in our field or work or study most of the time but as I said, be among the group of high-achievers may provide some indigestible food for thought.

By: Vincent Ti

#5 Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

It is always the hardest part for us to explore new things and doing tasks out of our expertise

     We wake up early in the morning feeling as if the new day looks like an endless hurdle.  When the alarm clock rings, we just want to crawl deeper under the covers. 

Be it being tired or because of insufficient sleeping hours, one reason for sure is the reluctance of us to get out of our comfort zone where we feel it is more comfortable lying on the bed longer rather than overcoming the ‘fatigue’ to wake up sooner.

    

Similarly, we would use the same roads to our workplace every day because we know if we follow the same routes it will definitely lead us to the right destination. Exploring different pathways or routes to the same aforementioned destination is therefore viewed as superficial as we are afraid of accidentally turning up at the wrong places and simply do not want to take such a risk, hence, we tend to stick to the former instead.

You are an officer in a company responsible for auditing its account and in one particular day, your boss demands you to take charge of the human and resources department. In this case, of course, the disgruntled of you will abhor at the prospect of switching a task that you are familiar, to another which is something outside your expertise. You find it undesirable because you are doing something not your cup of tea.

In regard to the above statements, we seemed to fancy whatever we have or what we are doing at the moment whereas, at the same time, treat particulars beyond our expertise with disdain. As a matter of fact, the scenarios that seem indifferent to most of us today may lead to a catastrophe in the latter stages of our lives, not to exaggerate the remarks.

Just because we feel that learning some new skills today may prove difficult, we will gradually feel the impacts that hit us hard when we need those skills in our future undertakings.

At most of the time, we find ourselves hard to take the first initiatives in order to begin doing something. When your mother asks you to sweep the floor, you are either engaged in doing your own stuffs or find it difficult to oblige to her. Once you have taken up the broom and sweep the whole house, your brain does not produce the ‘difficult’ and/or ‘reluctant’ mindsets anymore.

The reasons is simply because to take the first step to do anything is always the hardest part, once we start or are in the process of carrying out that particular action we automatically do not feel that task is ‘hard’ anymore. The key is, to constantly tell yourself that we always find it extremely difficult to start doing something is because we are unwilling to step out of our comfort zone.

The next time you encounter something ‘fresh’ to you or tasks beyond your comfort zone, just ask yourself; 

‘Will I suffer any losses in doing these things?’ or maybe 

‘Even in the worst circumstances will doing these be harmful to me?’ 

Then, you just have to evaluate and tell yourself that it is fine to step out of your comfort zone and progress forward. Steps by steps, you will see the differences in you as you get more accustomed to doing something you feel reluctant to explore in previously.

What I said is not the necessities to jump out from one’s comfort zone in our daily lives, but I think should more or less serve as a guide to remind ourselves just how important we can be to the people around us, if, we can be more proactive and not just doing things within our comfort zone.

By: Vincent Ti