The Dalai Llama is really down to Earth
I didn’t really know what to expect today when I sat down to hear a talk from the 14th Dalai Llama at the Sydney Entertainment Center. His talk was titled ‘Ethical Mindfulness in Everyday Life’, which is a pretty broad topic to say the least. I wondered what his basis for ethics was, and how...
Why I REALLY need to learn Mandarin.
I am a Chinese Australian in my late twenties and I speak Mandarin at the level of a four-year old child who ate too much glue at pre-school. I write this post at a point in my life when I really wish I could speak my native tongue, and wishing I had learnt it as...
Real Men Bring Home Bacon
Here’s a common story. Take a fresh uni graduate between the years of 2008-2010, and throw them into the job market. Watch as they spend months fruitlessly searching for employment, before they go back to uni to do their Masters. I was a lucky one, it only took me 6 months after I graduated before...
30 Before 30 – 6 Months in
30 Things Thomas must endure through before 30 – Progress Report as of 1st of April 2013. Why am I updating this now? Because it has been over 6 months since I wrote it and a regular reality check is warranted once in a while. Items which have been Struck through have been completed. Items...
Confronting Loss Aversion – 3 Tips on how to take a Risk!
Confronting Loss Aversion. So, you have decided that you need to make some big moves in life to get somewhere. You’re young, you could be talented, the opposite sex rate you a 7 or better, and the world is your oyster. You just need to summon the courage to jump at your goal! Except you...
Growing up Fat, Unfit, and Chinese.
Growing up isn’t that easy for most kids, so growing up Fat and Unfit is basically like playing life on Hard Mode. And if you have Chinese parents like me, then multiply that difficulty level by two. Read on to see a list of reasons why. Foreword If you believe the stats about childhood obesity...
Traumatic Tales of Door to Door Sales
In my second year of uni I took a summer job as a door-to-door salesman with a company that sold dollar-a-day donation plans for the Heart Research Institute (HRI). It was the most character shaping period of my life. That summer was defined by a series of embarrassing moments that remain vivid in my memory...
30 before 30 Lists: Corny or Compelling?
Do you know what the best motivator in the world is? Mortality. Ask anybody if they have ever written a bucket list, and chances are they could come up with a few items for that list on the spot. But kicking the bucket is long way away for most people so why not pick the...
How I lost $3,000 in 3 weeks trading derivatives
A year and a half ago, I opened a CFD trading account with the intent of trading derivatives during evenings to make some extra money. I lost $3,000 dollars in 3 weeks, and it was one of the harshest lessons in life I have ever had to endure… outside of dating. I have since terminated...
China, the Economy of Scale
Most people are generally aware that China is big business, after all there are 1.3 billion Chinese who are deciding that being middle class or better is a good goal to strive for. It’s one thing to be aware of it on a Macro level, it’s another thing to see it on the ground level....
Stephen Bradbury: Opportunism + Self Confidence = Winning
Last Wednesday as part of a 2-day company conference, we were treated to a motivational talk by the winner of Australia’s first gold medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics, Stephen Bradbury. For those of you who don’t know, Steve infamously won the Gold in speed skating when the four other skaters in front of him...
How to generate a corporate ideology like a Bawss!
You’re a leader. Maybe you’re a CEO, a Director, or some sort of upper middle bacon fat filler in a company, and you need to instil some direction into the serfs that make up your workforce. Any self-respecting cubicle dweller has at some point been subject to the insidious brainwashing that is the corporate ideology....
