General

“…choosing all the things I want to procrastinate (including that nagging thing in my psyche) versus doing that one priority action, is made by instinct, gut feel…”

I was under the weather the other day. Just a cold. Should recover soon. I slept most of the afternoon off without touching any personal or work task, although I could have.

When I procrastinate, I procrastinate, even when I’m normally not sick. Procrastination is simply at any moment being unconcerned about not yet dealing with any of the hundreds of tasks ahead of me.

At any moment, I choose and I do something (which may include do nothing), because I decide that doing that something at that moment is the right thing to do. The priority. The one priority.

Priority originally was a singular word only. With priorities in the plural, it becomes confusing — me, I can’t be doing more than one thing at a time. So I’ll stick to one moment, one priority.

How do I choose, then, or as they say, “prioritize” (that one priority)? It’s complex, but in the end, choosing all the things I want to procrastinate (including that nagging thing in my psyche) versus doing that one priority action, is made by instinct, gut feel, aided by comfortable (that’s a feeling) knowledge of all the things ahead of me.

I could draw an Eisenhower matrix (that four quadrant thingy) of important versus urgent. That’s a two-dimensional mental exercise. Draw multiple matrices? Have an artificial intelligence app that takes in or senses all my input and existing parameters (including “mood”) at any moment and spurt out what I should be doing? I’d rather have a human advisor, and I may still reject the advice, anyway.

Aided by comfortable (that’s a feeling) knowledge of all the things ahead of me

That’s gut (feeling) flipping through mental thinking (knowledge). Prior thinking.

I like to be lazy, lazy at making decisions of choosing what to procrastinate. Prior thinking means bite-sized thinking I had done on all the demands coming my way that I store somewhere: a passive list (categorized, but still passive). “Store somewhere” is another laziness, I don’t have to wring my brain to remember.

Then the list becomes my mental aid. I’m comfortable because I’m guilt-free and calm, because the list is exhaustive as it can be. Then flipping through it means there is some unexplainable algorithm in me (trust my instincts) that I can procrastinate ALL the many things I want to procrastinate in the list, except for just the one priority. I happily deal with the priority until the next moment of choosing. 😁

The Romans said, “festina lente,” Latin for “make haste slowly.” Lao Tzu had an expression, too, “wu-wei” which means “passive achievement.”

 

Illustration by Shaikh Omar Anuar: @soasketch on Instagram

 

 

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After four weeks off Facebook, life is better.

I’ve been a Facebook user for over ten years. Two years before that I had joined LinkedIn. Always have been an early adopter of such trends. In the early 2000s I was an ardent blogger, then Facebook slowly pulled me away from blogging.

Yes, I joined Twitter early, too, although I have not been actively tweeting. When Instagram came, I jumped in and became quite active posting photos especially in the last two years. And there’s WhatsApp and WhatsApp Groups. The ten years of Facebooking and lesser years of Instagramming and WhatsApping had been enjoyable, mostly. “Mostly,” because in the last one year I became uneasy with these three media.

#deletefacebook? Delete mindless scrolling, actually. I deactivated my Facebook and Instagram accounts four weekends ago (oh, it was before the Cambridge Analytica fiasco blew up), and at the same time exited almost all social WhatsApp groups. I remain in family and work related WhatsApp Groups.

Facebook, Instagram and the social WhatsApp groups had me scrolling many, many, many times a day. Yes, there were mostly “nice” updates and photos from people. I’d be posting to Facebook and Instagram once a week or two, and the likes were… pleasant. On the numerous social WhatsApp groups I hardly posted anything — I just “fast-scrolled” them. I thought keeping in touch with people on these three platforms were cool and expected of me.

But these were mostly noise, I began to feel. I had allowed the numerous daily scrolling to distract me from what I should focus on. It often derailed my momentum of my daily and weekly intentions.

Last year in my attempt to wean off Facebook, I deleted the Facebook app on my phone and iPad, wanting to reduce Facebooking by opening it on on laptop only. Shucks, m.facebook.com was still openable on the phone browser. Blocking it on the phone browsers didn’t help because often enough I’d unblock them again!

Was this addiction? The pleasure-inducing dopamine buzz like what Robert Lustig says in his book, The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brain?

Four weekends ago, when a Facebook friend commented humorously that I must have been really bored to post what I posted that day, it hit me. My posts had been self-indulgent.

Even the crafty photos (well, I thought so) I posted on Instagram, well, I probably created illusions of reality.

Susan Sontag would say, “In deciding how a picture should look, in preferring one exposure to another, photographers are always imposing standards on their subjects. Although there is a sense in which the camera does indeed capture reality, not just interpret it, photographs are as much an interpretation of the world as paintings and drawings are. Those occasions when the taking of photographs is relatively undiscriminating, promiscuous, or self-effacing do not lessen the didacticism of the whole enterprise. This very passivity — and ubiquity — of the photographic record is photography's "message," its aggression.”

So, cold turkey I went, off Facebook and Instagram. While at it, I exited those social WhatsApp Groups.

Three friends immediately asked why I left a WhatsApp group. “Fasting,” I replied. It was only five days later (hey, nobody missed me!) that a friend told me he could not tag me in his wefie on Facebook, so I said I’m experimenting to be off these three media. Detox, he asked? Yeah, sort of, I answered.

After four weeks I found that my FOMO (fear of missing out) was unfounded. No major news about friends and family were missed. Work matters absolutely did not get affected. I could live without seeing people acknowledging me in posts or likes.

Family news, if important enough, someone would tell me. General news I still could keep up with on my news apps. I like myself already, so I don’t need the little screen of the phone to excite me.

I found more peace! Scrolling on the phone screen would have felt aimless, or would have been irritating if I spot something I don’t like — none of that now! In place of the scrolling, I began to read or re-read my e-books, or articles of interest.

Am I now un-sociable? Perhaps, on those media, yeah! Can people know me? Of course, they can contact me directly or still check my online presence on my Twitter and LinkedIn accounts (somehow I have never been aimlessly scrolling on these two, I don’t know why) as well as my professional website rubah.my or personal blog hasansaidin.com.

I’m going back to blogging, gradually. No more multiple social WhatsApp groups. Today I deleted my Instagram account. My public photos are on my blog. Today I deleted my personal Facebook account. The Facebook Pages I have that are related to my work, I can maintain them from another nickname account (no Facebook friends there). 👍🏻

 

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"Excuses" fool self ("alasan" menipu diri), according to Samsul. He tells his story of realizing that things said by people (and by him) to him(self) are just excuses, so now he says to himself, POUNCE (TERJAH)!

More information on Samsul is available by emailing me at: hasan@rubah.my

 

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Are you awake?
Yes.
Hakim dah meninggal.
‎إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون
(We surely belong to Allah and to Him we shall return)

Hakim brought fish. All the way from Terengganu to Kuala Lumpur for the big reunion event a year ago. He would cut the fish and grill them for the reunion feast. He would do anything for others.

Hakim gave and gave. When I met him the first time at Red Card Cafe in Bangi for an earlier reunion gathering, he gave away Terengganu fish to ex-schoolmates till he emptied the iced polystyrene crate in the boot of his seasoned Mercedes Benz.

Are you awake?
Yes.
Hakim dah meninggal.
‎إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون
(We surely belong to Allah and to Him we shall return)

Hakim usually wore Indonesian batik, not batik from Terengganu where he was born, in Dungun. Aah… his loving wife, Rose hails from Medan, Indonesia. Their only child, son Arshad​ would take annual leave from work in Kuala Lumpur to take care of his Papa for the surgery in Terengganu.

He had colon cancer, stage 4 by the time it was detected in mid-2017. It affected his liver and he went through palliative care in his life-remaining days.

Are you awake?
Yes.
Hakim dah meninggal.
‎إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون
(We surely belong to Allah and to Him we shall return)

In Dungun, droves of friends would make the journey to visit Hakim. He would offer to arrange “homestay” accommodation to ease our stay there. He wanted to take friends to Dungun’s favourite eating places, despite being on painkillers.

When Marsila​ and I looked him up at his family home there, he would entertain us with cutting coconut from his front yard to let us savour the juice.

Are you awake?
Yes.
Hakim dah meninggal.
‎إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون
(We surely belong to Allah and to Him we shall return)

He rapidly lost strength and moved to Selayang Hospital in Kuala Lumpur. In his life-remaining days he lived with his elder sister in Sungai Buloh, where palliative assistance from an organization like Hospice (Hospis in Malaysia) would be available that Terengganu lacked.

At Selayang Hospital, Hakim was excited about an alternative medicine he found that was beginning to show positive changes as predicted by the provider. He was a battler. He would always be cheerful, before and during the sickness. He was happy receiving more droves of visitors at Selayang Hospital and the sister's home.

Are you awake?
Yes.
Hakim dah meninggal.
‎إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون
(We surely belong to Allah and to Him we shall return)

Hakim left us at 1:00 AM on Sunday, 21 January 2018 and was brought back to lay to rest in Dungun.

Hakim was Marsila’s schoolmate. I did not have to know him long and I did not have know him well. He left me his impression. His generosity. His fish. His smirks and laughs. We miss him.

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For enquiries, please email me at: hasan@rubah.my

Register online here: www.rubah.my/registration-page.html

Best Year Yet® program

• Make a 1-page Annual Plan that would guarantee the following 12 months of delight
• Systematically continue with follow-through monthly activities to track and achieve the 12-month plan
• Use state-of-the-art online resources to stay accountable and master self

Get the results you have always wanted and make them stick. The highly interactive Best Year Yet® Workshop mobilizes you to design your coming 12 months with a focus on what really matters most, from inside out. Profound but not intrusive, powerful yet private. The Best Year Yet® Monthly Review Workshops  ensure accountability to achieve your best year yet.

Best Year Yet® (www.bestyearyet.com) is a system for helping people, businesses and organizations create the results they want and need. It is based on 10 simple questions rather than steps or habits or telling you what you should do, resulting in producing a 1-page plan, tracking the plan and using a rich set of support resources.

Facilitator: Hasannudin Saidin (www.rubah.my/coach-hasan.html)

 

Best Year Yet® Workshop (1-Day) Fee: RM790 per Participant Date: 11 July 2017 (Tuesday) Registration closing date: 04 July 2017 Venue: Professional Leading Career Sdn Bhd

PLUS: 12 months Monthly Reviews (Half-Day Workshops) Fee: RM990 per Participant per quarter Dates of monthly workshops to be confirmed Venue: Professional Leading Career Sdn Bhd

 

For enquiries, please email me at: hasan@rubah.my

Register online here: www.rubah.my/registration-page.html

Click here to view and download the program brochure (version for individuals).

Click here to view and download the program brochure (version for corporate heads).

 

One-On-One Best Year Yet® Coaching and Best Year Yet® "Fast Track" Workshops for Teams  are also available upon request.

 

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Register here: bit.ly/registration-eventbrite

Interested to make your coming 12 months your best year yet?

• You can read the book, “Your Best Year Yet!”: bit.ly/bestyearyetbook

• You can DIY/make your 12-month plan online and track your progress yearlong: bit.ly/bestyearyetsubscribe

• You can make your 12-month plan and its follow-through system in a 1-day workshop on 11 July 2017: www.rubah.my/2017/05/public-best-year-yet-program-on-11-july-2017.html

YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ALL OF THE ABOVE AT THIS FREE BEST YEAR YET® PREVIEW WORKSHOP ONLINE (1.5 HOURS).

Setting and achieving goals in work and life (or call it planning and making the plan happen) feels tough! We get overwhelmed with too many goals, or anxious when we don't know if it's too many or too few.

We think we are sure about what we really want, then what we initially set out to do gets changed, or dropped, or even forgotten!

We are ablaze with enthusiasm at first, then things happen in life as we plod through the year, we get distracted, don't complete all our plans, so we feel frustrated or unfulfilled. Or we simply lose interest in what we had promised to ourselves.

Year in, year out the cycle repeats.

With Best Year Yet®, you will be relieved and confident because you see a crystal clear set of goals for a whole coming period of 12 months. How about I give you a full 12 months' plan in just 1 page?

With my program, you get ablaze with enthusiasm as you rightly should, but this high spirit and consistency stays with you yearlong, because you and I stick together not just for a limited number of interactions, but an extended period of you progressively mastering yourself to celebrate the results that matter to you for that 12 months' period.

It's up to you now. Participate in this free preview workshop online with me, Hasan (Hasannudin Saidin), Best Year Yet® Coach: bit.ly/coach-hasan

Date: 17 May 2017 (Wednesday)

Time: 8:30pm to 10:00pm

Venue: This is an online workshop (Instructions will be given after you register)

Congratulations and thank you for your interest to speak with me!

• Please schedule your Goals-Ablazing Conversation with me by emailing me at: hasan@rubah.my

• The conversation is 30 minutes long and is FOC (free of charge).

• In your email, please propose the date and time for the online conversation. You may send me a calendar invitation, too.

• We will do the online conversation using Zoom Videoconferencing software. I will give you the simple steps to access the videoconferencing session when we confirm our slot for the conversation.

• If you prefer using Skype, my Skype ID is: hasan.saidin

 

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Rubah Associates is my company name (company number 002468908-T), and I call it Rubah for short. I provide learning experiences through my coaching, facilitating, training and speaking.

As a Coach, I (Coach Hasan) commit to partner with you to get to the goals and results that matter most to you.

I predominantly use the Best Year Yet® system as it is simple and enables focus and discipline. It is values-based and self-paced. The additional resources available, especially the online tools greatly support successful implementation. 

For trainings, I design and personalize the training modules after finding out what you really need. My trainings are not one-off; they include follow-through personal coaching or small-group reviews.

I speak on a host of topics and I take requests to explore topics for speaking.

Rubah Associates website: CoachHasan.com

Oh, what do “Rubah” and our tagline mean? Click/tap here to understand the meaning of Rubah: Horizoning our future.