But last week (or was it 2 weeks ago), I was in the airport again for my business trip to Bangkok. I found that the airport security has become too tight…….more than necessary. The metal detector went off 95% of the time, even if you do not have any metal stuff on your body. I do have a necklace made of stainless steel…and that’s it. The detector went off, and I was forced to be searched by 1 of the officers. And I wasn’t alone. All the passengers after me suffered the same experience.

Mmm...why 2 postmen in the same neighborhood?

If that’s the case, why do you want to have the detector in the first place? You might as well search every single passenger there. That’s what the officers were doing at that time anyway.

This to me is a complete waste of resources and money. If you are planning to be sooooooooooo sensitive and strict, then just remove the machine. If you are relying on the machine, then don’t place so many officers there and thus cutting down the manpower cost. There’s no point doing redundant and similar tasks.

This kind of situation happens in a lot of places. For example, in shopping complexes where they have to tie up your plastic bags with some plastic bands……and you will still have to go pass those ‘detector’ thing at the entrance. If you already have those hypersensitive detector, then don’t waste your money on those plastic bands.

Another example is PLUS highway. I recently noticed that there are some “donation box” for some charity thingy, placed at the payment counter aka checkpoint of major highways. Funny thing is, they’ve put those boxes in Smart Tag and Touch N Go lanes. That’s a complete waste of resources again since…well….I seriously doubt anyone will donate there.

Or….getting 5 people to do 1 person’s job such as cleaning the hallway. 1 people doing the job, 4 people looking at it.

I can go on and on and on about such things because there are just too many examples in our country where resources are being wasted due to poor planning. Maybe these businesses/companies/organizations should take a look at all their operation side of things and cut down on the unnecessary ones.

So, start looking at the mirror, tidy up your hair and face, and remove all those unnecessary accessories. Maybe after doing all that, your maintenance cost will go down and you will look better.

Oh, and if you are not willing to do that, then don’t go around complaining that you’re losing money and make that as an excuse to raise your asking price (or toll rates) .

p/s…. i suffered the similar situation at the security checkpoint in Bangkok airport and was searched by a female officer (i was shocked =_=)

p/s….. I boarded Thai Airways and they served food with metal fork, spoon and knife. Hmmm, so the security check was pointless.

Let’s see….

From the perspective of a normal person, it is quite a good deal since I only need to spend RM 1 or RM 2 to get something worth RM 1500 but whether I get it or not, its strictly based on luck. But well, it’s still not a very bad deal since a meal outside would already cost me at least RM 3 – RM 4 nowadays. RM 1 or Rm 2 don’t really mean a thing in our world anymore.

And from the perspective of the contest organizer, it’s a very good opportunity to earn big bucks. There will be thousands and thousands of viewers for those “big matches”, and say 20% of them are feeling lucky and decided to join this man-of-the-match contest. 20% out of ….maybe 100000 viewers = 20000 people, each would vote once = RM 20000. Look at the profit margin?

And they have this more than once a week – maybe 4 or 5 times.

No wonder there are so many SMS contests nowadays.

Anyway, this concept does not apply to SMS contests only. It’s applicable to any form of products or services. So when you want to sell something using such concept, remember a few points.

• Make the process as trouble-free as possible. Example, typing a SMS is simple but sending an entry form is not. And typing the name of a player is simple, but writing why you chose the player is not.
• Make it as cheap as possible. RM 1 SMS charge is not significant and people will not notice, as compared to RM 10 entry form or RM 5 SMS. Also, if your price is cheap, people will be willing to send/purchase more than 1 unit.
• Make your contest or product or whatever you’re selling, as well-known as possible. Spread the words because you’re relying on numbers here.
• Get some partners, preferably the reputable ones so that whatever you are planning to sell will appear more trustworthy.

One bad thing about this is that, there will be a lot of work unless you are doing something like the SMS contests which should be automated. If you’re selling some small items/products, the large amount of items will add up to the cost and all those inventory problems (if you can’t sell them off).

So my suggestion to you is, try finding something which is automated (save time) and preferably, won’t take up too much space (save cost).

Source: www.chessbase.com

For example, during my school years, I participated in a lot of chess tournaments and if you are familiar with the game, you should know that each player has to plan ahead in order to predict what the opponent’s subsequent moves are. And sometimes, you might predict the opponent to move to A, so you moved to counter it only to realize that your move actually blocked off a lot of his plans unintentionally. I’ve done this before and what happened then was that this “move” of mine was supposed to block off his bishop…. and that was exactly what I have planned. However, the same “move” actually managed to block off his knight and pawns AFTER his next move. Did I plan for that? Not really since that latest move of his was outside my prediction (I wasn’t a very good player). My move just happened to block his pieces by accident. And my first response after his move was ……a wide grin (uncontrolled).

Yeah, the opponent was kinda pissed after that (because of my wide grin and his mistake).

Anyway, I believe this does apply to other parts of our life too – including our businesses, jobs, relationships, or any thing which is unpredictable. However, I must admit that good fortune does play an important role here because without it, even your so-called perfect plan (to achieve your goal) will not work.

So if you think all the great achievements in the world are planned to be that way since the beginning, maybe you can think again. And if you think your plan will only lead you to one and only one goal, you should think again too. But the most important thing which you must realize is …… without making that first step and without being there to see for yourselves, you will certainly not be able to get this kind of accidental achievement.

Last but not least, do remember to be flexible too because if you’re not, you will not be able to grab the opportunity which is in front of you…and the opportunity might be the one which will reward you with the accidental achievement.

To summarize, these are the things you need to do in order to stand a chance.

1. Plan what you want to achieve.
2. Change your initial goal to something higher.
3. Make that first step.
4. Be flexible and change your plan accordingly as you progress.

Hope it helps.

p/s…. I was debating with myself whether to choose great success/achievement or just “great things”. In the end, I got tired of arguing with myself and chose great achievement. Sorry if it’s actually a wrong choice of word.

p/s…. been really busy nowadays. Got involved in the social committee of my company (the only few survivors left in the commitee). Currently busy preparing for the annual dinner next Friday. At the same time, I’m rushing for a project. =_=