The Green Wave of Wealth Creation - by Alex Har
I met my old friend couple of days ago. He was a veteran on Direct Marketing. Today, he sent me an article which I like to post it here for people to enjoy. Here goes...
I have given many talks on my “21 ways of Generating Big Revenues through Direct Response Marketing”.
Many people have walked away…probably saying “nothing new”. Others have sought me out to engage me on issues which I thought was “nothing new”.
Often this latter group of people will return to share and thank me for their success, and will be amongst the list of people sending me hampers this Chinese New Year.
Over time I have come to recognize these successful wealth creators as people with a “Green View”. They can see freshness in old clichés…always excited, never seem bored.
“GREEN” when referring to people seems to have somewhat a universal meaning. In the western world, it implies new, inexperienced, likewise to the Chinese. But the Chinese, (Chinese language being more picturesque) have the added imagery of someone inexperienced climbing all over the place constantly and fruitlessly. The word green in Cantonese “tsen” refers to a yellow-green or fresh green” Hence parents will often tell young children “don’t be k m k m tsen” which in Cantonese which means “don’t climb around like a green monster” or “don’t be so fidgety” which takes us to the Key Wealth Attitude discussed in this short essay. “Fidgetiness” reveals not just a lack of focus but more a lack of stillness. I have seen many “focused persons” fail as they lacked stillness.
Some years ago, I attended a Wealth Creation Seminar that changed my life. It was about investing in the stock market but the learning point I took away helped me in all aspects of my life. I only learnt or rather was reminded to do just one thing, “Be still when you make a decision” . I have found that this applies effectively to buying stocks and shares or any other things that I do.
It was then the late 90s and I had lost a bunch of money with the stock market falling through the roof. It was also a period when I just retired from my corporate career of 20 plus years. My six-sense had prodded me to pay attention to my investment portfolio, as it was obvious that things were getting rather dynamic or “hot”. unfortunately being newly retired, and with so many propositions in my face, I did not have the stillness to do it…as a result I lost probably much more than I should.
Some of you may say that this is mere hindsight… every person can rationalize his own success or failure. I will not disagree with such assertions…unfortunately that is what learning is all about. The importance is whether a “rationale” is helpful for the future…and for me it was.
So I do not close my mind to just one thing or other…because that’s dangerous in this highly dynamic world….but within this chaos learn to have a stillness of mind…especially when making decisions. With stillness, the right paths will crystallize.
The imageries I like to use to describe is stillness is encapsulated in one of my postings in the Blog, Paradise Regained.
“A Shaolin monk perched precariously on
one foot on a bamboo pole,
full of potential power,
silent, fully aware of himself and the environment,
ready to strike, and
when he does, he does so effectively
in quick simple strokes
or the blind swordsman who despite his lack of vision
is able detect all movements around him.
He is entirely centered, totally aware
about his self and his relationship with his surroundings”
Returning to my talks on “21 Ways to Generating Big Revenues for Direct Response Marketing”…I have often been asked “which is the most important of the 21”. It makes me recall the Bible when the disciples asked Jesus which of them was most important. Even though Jesus seemingly suggested Peter as the “Rock on which he build the church” ….looking through the Act of Apostle which outline their evangelical mission, one would conclude that different disciples had their time and place in the history of the church….and it was Paul, not one of the 12 who pushed Christianity into empire status.
Asking what or who is most important reveals the “green” of someone excited without stillness. “There is a time and a place for everything” is an old adage which I see people, including myself, repeat so often but imbibe so little in our minds. We keep jumping and climbing, “kum kum tsen into situations where we shouldn’t be (in hindsight).
So it’s good to be excited, to be active, curious and inquisitive, but it is most important to keep our sense of stillness. Apply stillness in every project you do…in all the 21 approaches that you take if we decide it is good for you. Don’t get involved if for some reasons you cannot be still.
How do we gain this stillness? My good friend Eddie Goh speaks about this regularly. I will just mention a few points as a conclusion to the article.
There is the aspect of re-engineering our lives…developing a criteria of what values are important to us…the anchoring framework of our being. For those with a religion, praying routinely is probably the best way. Routinely is the key word. Others will have to find different routines to engage in deep reflection and though meditation, or just get way from everything…go ocean watching or nature hiking with plenty of Greenness around you.
