Ever read articles that tell you how to write a “Thank You Letter” after a job interview? 10 things to note when you write one? Or grab a sample of one from the net? or simply just how to say thank you? Not sure about you, but I always wonder who made these people “gurus” of such matters to begin with. At the end of the day, these pointers are base on their experiences isn’t it? Not yours nor mine.

Do a quick google/yahoo search and you will come across many of such articles on how to write effective “Thank You Letters”. Each claiming to be more effective. Guess how effective will it get when you have everyone writing about the same thing after reading the same article? =p

I mean it’s great to have people sharing their experiences (I do so too =p), but at the end of the day, how you really say thank you really should come from your heart.  If you might have notice, the creative ideas that catch people’s attention at the end of the day are fundamentally original ones that came from the creators themselves base on their experience. After all, we’re all unique in our own sense.

Yes, yes, there are times we are lost and not sure how we should go about doing it, even clueless to begin with. But sometimes perhaps being clueless will help you break new ground that others haven’t thought of? Looking at examples tend to set the boundaries of thought sometimes.

Do not discount your ideas and creativity, cause they are uniquely yours and that’s what make you YOU! You should give your ideas more credit than you ever thought so. At the end of the day, all the articles are just options or references (sometimes it’s better not to read them too) from other people’s experiences.

And if you ever need to say thank you in any occasion, be it for a job interview, a simple help, or just to say thank you… Screw The Templates, Say Thank You With Your Heart, Your Way…

Sincerely

… and I hope that they, in return will come back to help others in need in the future… =)

Thanks everyone!

Quote from "Eat Pray Love"

” In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying Thank You, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.”

- From the book, “Eat Pray Love”

There are so many ways to “say thank you”, and this one is one of my favourite interpretation. Such a heartwarming quote that embraces the spirit of Thank You. One cannot help to feel that the world is full of love and greatness.

Let us help share this

Post My Thanks has come a long way since 2010 when it started out as Project Say Thank You. Back then, everything was done manually where Thank You Notes were received via email, sent out and posted online by myself. It took up quite a bit of my time back then and I decided to stop working on it after about 6 months into the project.

However, after receiving positive feedback and encouragement from users of the site, I decided to revisit the project. I decided to look into an automated version of this project which will take up less of my time and making it easier for everyone to use. With that, came Project Say Thanks You II: Post My Thanks. =)

It wasn’t easy for me to put together this project as I’m not the best tech person around. So I needed quite a bit of advice and support from programmers. At the same time, I was not familiar with user interface and the technical aspect of web designing, making it tough to piece everything together.

Nevertheless, we manage to piece everything up with the help of the programmers and beta users who have shared their user experiences with us to make it even better. We’re still working on the finer details of the project, but you will find that the Thank You system is up and running!

Hope you will like this project! Help us spread the word around and make this world, just a little, better for that someone you say Thank You to…

Regards

“Who’s Micheal Jordan?”

“He’s a basketballer!”

“Who’s Mariah Carey?”

“She’s a singer!”

“Who’s Lee Hsien Loong?”

“He’s our Prime Minister!”

Sounds right to you? Well, most will agree with them. The problem here is that I was asking who they are, not what they are doing! They couldn’t answer.

It is easy for people to define others or brands by what they do, or products. But often or not, we will miss the larger picture in life. What do these people actually stand for? Brands like Apple are often linked to innovation and creativity, that’s what Jobs made it out to be. He created a bond and image of what Apple stands for. It’s not just another MP3 player, it’s an Ipod, it’s not just another phone, it’s an Iphone and etc. He has created a branding beyond the products that they do. And Apple stands for more than just these products today, it’s something that has change the world.

From company brands to people’s name, they all have a meaning to it.

Ever thought about, “Who are you?”

Lee

Image via Wikipedia

Needless to say how inspirational this person is and how he has changed the world in ways we never image before him. Though as much as I’m not a tech person, I can see how his inventions and innovations have change the world before us. He was often quoted by the media and his speeches are all over the internet. His genius mind cannot be doubted in any way.

His words and advice spans beyond technology and innovation. They became inspirational quotes where people apply them to daily lives and work. And one such quote that caught my attention was:

 Stay hungry.

Stay foolish.

- Commencement Address, Standford University, 2005 

Another Ad by Apple was:

“Here’s to the Crazy Ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore
them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them
as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world – are the ones who DO!”
~ Apple Computers  1997

Reading these two quotes never fails to inspire me and challenge myself about what I want to do for this world. No dream is too big nor foolish as long as we believe in it. And I took the time to think about what I want for the world tomorrow.

He did it, why can’t we?

What is your vision for tomorrow?

Lee

It’s the time of the year where one looks back and plans ahead for the new year. I’m doing likewise as well. (And if you aren’t, I think you might want to consider doing so) It’s all so easy to loss track of what you have or have not done over the one year if you just let it flow. Next thing you know, another year is here. And I think it really helps if you write it down somewhere so that you can see it all the time. I might not have achieve everything I wanted to, but at least some gets done. =p It doesn’t matter if you can’t figure it out all at once, you can jot it down along the way I guess, its for your own reference anyway. =)

I’ll start with this blog which I started sometime back. It’s been quite sometime since I last posted a post here as I started working on something else. As for next year, I’m going to look into more inspiring videos and people on the blog and share more thoughts on them. I’ll also be posting more about my project Post My Thanks. While at the same time, I’ll work on the usual posts as well whenever possible.

In the coming year, I’ll be starting new community projects as well. =) Since starting work on Post My Thanks, I’ve been enjoying the process and felt empowered to do more. At the same time, I’ve learnt to manage the projects better so that the operations of future projects will be smoother.

I’ll hope to do more runs in the following year as well. Regular training of once a week at least and some running events as well. I kind of miss the good old days when I took part in runs regularly. =)

I made some financial plans as well for the next year. Learnt a trick or two about saving money in the later half of 2011. Seems to help quite a bit. I’ll like to share more about it in another post to come. =)

What will your 2012 be like?

Lee

I cannot help it, but I really like to do a post on Harry Potter phenomenon over the past ten years. It’s been more than ten years since the child actors and actresses were revealed in 2000 August, and today, the epic story has finally come to an end (or has it not?) I started reading Harry Potter back then (can’t remember which year), and since been following the story. I bought every book that was published and watched everyone of them on the movies. The movies were never as good as the books if you ask me, but it was as good as it can get to fulfilling my imagination.

I decided to capture the past posters of each movie and see how much have the characters grow over the years. Starting with their Year 1:

Daniel Radcliffe, kind of lost his child look from the 3rd book onwards, while Emma Watson start to show signs of a beautiful actress in the making from the 4th book onwards I say. =) Even non Potter Fans started to follow the story because of Emma Watson. While, for Rupert Grint, it’s from the 3rd book onwards as well.

Here’s a tribute to Harry Potter, and surely, the Boy Legend that will survive for a long time to come. =)

Image via Wikipedia

Well, this is it, after almost four months of rewarding classes. I’m an FI Grad. =) Graduation is often accompanied with a sense of achievement for many, relieve and … dread to a certain extent.

What dread am I talking about? Haha, I was talking to Sayanee, another fellow FI grad, about the day I finish my last exam paper from NUS. I walked out of the exam hall feeling relieve and kind of cant believe I just completed my last paper. But the relieve didn’t last longer than five minutes… before I even reach back my hostel, I had an awakening. And it says,

” Damn… Holiday just ended….”

True enough, it didn’t take long for me to realise that I’ll be thrown into the real world from now on. And ain’t shit learning anymore, it’s for real now. Looking back, I still kind of find that thought real amusing, especially how the mood changes in less than five minutes.

Well, graduation from SGFI really just mean the same thing. But I’m not exactly on my own, while I still have a community of graduates/ mentors and more to come in the semesters. But the real work starts when no one is going to come nagging at you about not completing your homework from here onwards really.

But in a way, I’m just proud to be able to graduate from SGFI and looking forward to building my new start up. Don’t get carried away by the graduation, the real shit starts here. =) ut still, enjoy that moment. One deserve it. =) 

And I’ll definitely reccomend any budding entrepreneur who is looking to build a tech start up to join SGFI 4 this coming Oct.

Regards

Think About It, Talk About It, Evaluate It, Do It

I get this question once in a while from youths who I work closely with for my volunteer work. I thought about it and decided to write a simple post on it to share my thoughts about starting your first start up. I’m not here to share about the technical aspect of starting one, but rather, the organic process of starting to do something. It’s really not that tough to start working on it. I’ll be sharing four simple steps.

Think About It
It always start from a simple idea during those eureka moments. When you get the idea, give it some thoughts like what problem you are solving, is there a demand for it? Do some research and see what’s in the market and what others are doing and what’s working and not working. Google Alerts does wonder for beginner research. There are also several other Google products that are great a well, like Insights, Wonder Wheel and more. I’ll talk about that next time.

Talk About It
Next up, once you’ve done some thinking through, have some research done up and some facts, start talking to people who are able to help you. You can start with some of your friends to get your questions in order, then move on to other entrepreneurs, teachers, mentors, target audience, just to start off. Talking to them will help your crystallize your thoughts and understand the problem better and what you are solving.

Evaluate It
So you done your field research, get back to your lab and start evaluating what you have found out with the earlier research you have done. Is there a fit? Does your idea make sense? What are the feedback? Don’t stop talking to people while you are at it, continue to talk to as many people possible about your idea and your research.

Do It
After evaluating your options, and decided to go ahead, start drawing out your timeline and plans. This is where you start planning your action plan. It’s a whole new playing ground from here onwards. But the idea is that once you considered your options and decided this is the path you want to take, sit down and plan your next move. Get a Mentor to guide you through from here on the set up. From here on, it’ll be abit more technical than this post, which I’ll share more in another post. 

Here’s the tough part where alot of people drop out and find hundred and one excuse to not do anything. Some are geniune concerns, while some are just excuses. Talk to someone who have started a business and he will most likely be able to spot excuses from geniune concerns. =)

From here, it’s going to be another mental barrier you need to break starting one some serious research again and planning. Start easy a get a feel of it first.

Cheers