I know the title sounds a bit funny but when you really think about it, there’s really not much difference between how people treat life, and how big companies deal with piracy.

Every now and then, you will read news about this or that company filing a lawsuit against another party because of piracy (the latest target being China). I do agree to a certain extent that pirates should be destroyed because they take the works of other people and sell these works close to nothing. Minimal effort to generate tonnes of profit. But the problem here is, whether we like it or not, pirates are here to stay in this modern world. Yes, you can try your best to destroy them but each time you destroy an old one, a new one will appear. It is a reality that everyone needs to face, including the big companies.

In a way, it’s quite similar to how people deal with life’s problems and obstacles. Problems and obstacles will always occur in our life whether we like it or not. We can spend hours after hours on something, and then something else comes along and destroys everything within minutes. That’s life. But the decision we make after that is solely up to us, whether we whine and complain like a crybaby, and end up with no solution. Or we can learn from this bad experience, make sure we’re well-prepared for something like this in the future, and move on with life.

The difference? The former places you in a static and unchanged position. The latter helps you adapt to things that you can’t change or things that you can’t avoid completely. So which one do you prefer?

Coming back to the piracy issue, perhaps these companies which are busy burning their money away filing lawsuits should start looking at how they can adapt to this situation. Try to learn from companies like Apple (MP3s are available at such low prices that pirated copies are no longer that attractive) and Sony (Playstation 3 has been pirate-free so far because of the difficulty in cloning the blu-ray and also due to the attractions of online capabilities provided by the Playstation Network – free downloads, DLCs, community, online multiplayer, etc).

So at the end of the day, the decision is really up to you whether you prefer to be a crybaby and solve nothing, or learn how to adapt to something that is outside your control.

Good ideas are a subset of ideas. Maybe 3 out of 10 ideas are good ideas and the remaining 7 are bad ideas.

While most people love the 3 good ideas, there are a lot more people who are fearful of the 7 bad ideas. In the end, they feel hesitant to come out with any ideas. They are afraid of being looked down by others. They are afraid of being called “stupid”. They are afraid of bad ideas.

But if you don’t come out with any ideas at all, then the hope of getting a good idea is zero.

That’s why in my personal opinion, having bad ideas is way better than having no ideas at all. Generate more ideas, be it good or bad. Learn from the bad, and keep the good. That way, you will eventually come out with few good ideas.

Well, easier said than done. If you want to do this, I think you have to let go of your ego for a while…. and feel that it’s okay to look stupid with all the bad ideas you come out with. Hopefully in the long run, you will learn to understand that there’s no idea which is bad….and someone who is willing to contribute ideas is always smarter than someone who does not contribute ideas at all.

Most people do not want to work hard, and yet they want to achieve that big dreams of theirs – becoming a millionaire, running a successful business, achieving financial freedom, etc. To be honest, it’s close to impossible and they themselves know this. That’s why they resort to shortcuts. They want the easy way out.

Of course it would be ideal if we don’t need to work hard to achieve our dreams – minimal effort but tonnes of reward. Sounds cool huh? But sadly, the reality is that there’s no shortcut in this world. There’s no quick way of getting rich, no sure way to get 1st class honor, no easy way to win the girl’s heart, and no effortless way of starting a successful business.

Yes, you can argue there ARE shortcuts out there and some people have become successful due to these shortcuts. But how sure are you that’s really the case? Are you sure these people did nothing but using the shortcuts? No additional efforts at all? Most often than not, these success stories have been made up in order to make you believe in them. The truth is that these individuals did make a lot of additional efforts in order to be where they are now – and perhaps, making you believe them is one of the efforts.

And if there really are shortcuts, those shortcuts can be rather risky. For example, you can try to cheat in exam if you want to get first class honor. But you should also know that once you’ve been found out, you’re practically screwed and chances are, you will be left with nothing – not even your degree. So if you still think it’s worth taking the risk, then good luck.

Same thing goes for all the shortcuts that you wish to take. The risks are there and they can be quite big risks. Think about it and decide whether it is worth it to take such high risks, or just try your best and work for your dreams without taking any shortcuts. For me, working hard for my dreams sound like a more interesting and safer thing to do. Furthermore, I am not someone who believes in shortcuts. They just don’t seem to exist in my life (so far).

“Please follow the process!”. “Why aren’t you following the process?”. “The processes are there to help you”.

We hear such lines all the time in our working environment. Processes, processes, processes. They are there to assist us to be more productive. They are there…well….to calm down the bosses because if we follow processes, things won’t easily go out of control. Well, not THAT much anyway.

To be honest with you, processes are fine but sticking too much to the processes can be counter-productive. But most importantly, it dulls the creativity of your people because they are being given a pretty tight constraint to work within. After all, most processes exist in order to control the people so that they don’t stray too far away from what they are supposed to do.

The funny thing is, after introducing such limiting processes, the bosses will start questioning their employees why aren’t they using their creativity at work? Then they will try to come out with MORE processes to promote creativity among the employees.

I guess the bosses or whoever that wants to come out with processes, should remember that creativity is not something that can be calculated – unlike the results of following a process. And it is not something which should be restrained by the processes. If you want to promote creativity, then remove the processes. Those 2 can hardly work together – there are occasions where the 2 can work together, but companies have the thread carefully…because not everyone can do that successfully without screwing up or making the bosses angry.

So yes, processes do dull creativity. Tell me if you think otherwise. I cannot think of how someone can be creative when he/she has to follow step (1) to step (10) as per the process.

Last but not least, people should remember that nowadays, companies need to rely on creativity and innovation more than they need to rely on boring processes. Processes are there to help, but creativity and innovation are there to make them win in the competition. So which should you be focusing on? It’s your choice.

p/s….. having said that, I don’t deny that certain processes should always be to keep things under control. Imagine what is it like if your HR person or account person try to be too creative by ignoring the processes.

Let’s admit this, our attention (yes, all of us) span are getting shorter as compared to ….say…10 years ago? Perhaps it’s due to how we’ve been brought up (babies who watch TV often tend to have shorter attention span when they grew up), or perhaps it’s because we have too many choices thanks to the Internet.

Well, irregardless of the reasons, it is a fact that we all must admit. Just look around you and I’m sure you can find the following examples pretty easily:

• People having problem listening to others properly.
• People interrupting while others are doing or saying something.
• People getting agitated when something goes on for a bit longer than usual.
• People falling asleep during a long meeting session.
• People getting tired of a new toy which was bought few months ago.
• etc….

As more and more content come pouring onto us, our attention span will become shorter and shorter because there just isn’t enough time for us to go through every single content. In the end, we’ll spend very very limited amount of time on 1 single content before we chuck it aside and go on to the next one. And yes, content in this context can be the person talking in front of a meeting.

I know this (the amount of content pouring in) cannot be avoided at times but what can be done here is for us to be less wasteful. Pick the content carefully and give our full attention to it. Listen to the person WELL if you chose to listen in the first place. Focus on what the person in front has to say if you chose to sit in the meeting (remember that nobody can force you to do so besides yourself). Fully utilize the new toy that you have just bought…. or better, justify why you need it before buying it and remember those reasons AFTER you bought it.

And I believe that is the best we all can do for ourselves, our money, our toys and also the people around us. Be more selective and then give our full attention whenever we are engaged in something or with someone.

Oh, and as for businesses or content providers….it also means if your stuff is not good enough, you will be totally ignored. but either you try to make us look at you….or don’t try at all. It’s up to you.