DGP: Smart but Stuck (Rajesh)

 Every smart person gets stuck.

The smart person always try to hold on to their identity that they're smart. When that happens, they tend to try to solve every problems very quickly.

Why?

Because if they delay, then they afraid other might think that they're not that smart afterall or they're being exposed.

So, the moment they get stuck, they want to get unstuck.

What will happen, they'll end up solving the surface rather than the depth.

They need to start reposition themselves.

7 REASONS why People Get Stuck

1. Why is "change" hard for many smart people?

    Change is NOT optional, it is a necessity. Why? The world is changing, so if you want to sync you need to change.

    Smart people are bad at change sometimes because of the control over short term outcomes.

When the thing is new (change), the control that they have will be small.

    To overcome this, they need to tell themselves that they're going thru changes, so it's fine to not be good immediately.

2. Why smart people don't take actions?

    They tend to make phantom requirement that they need certain skill to be fully ready.

    So when they start to learn/study, they'll realize that the content that they have is so much lesser than the real context. They do not stop learning tho becuase smart people don't give up. But the more they learn, the bigger their context get and they feel like their content is getting smaller.

    That's not the case. It's their eagerness that makes them feel like that.

    The more topics / field they learn about, they'll start to feel like in a MAZE and it will never ends.

    The FIXING here is really important. They need to first realise that they CAN'T DO IT ALONE. They need to have good help.

    Instead of saying "I need to do this", they need to start thinking "WHO can I get onboard on this".

Stop thinking your SOLO capability could run a TEAM-based sport.

3. Why smart People struggle to Talk

    It's interesting how smart people can do stuff but for the love of God, they struggle with talking. They can't explain what they do (ME T^T).

    They might want to say 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, but what they actually say is 1 6 8 because they thought that the others are obvious. They skip it. They THINK the people that are listening can somehow connect the dots.

    This happens because smart people minds are racing at such a lightning speed. They want to process things fast and get things done quickly. So they keep compressing stuff.

4. Why smart people don't share?

    When smart people learn new stuff, they'll start with what they currently have (small bit). And at THAT time, they don't want to share it yet because they'll look bad. "aku pon tktau, kenapa nak share".

    Then when they have reached certain knowledge, it become background knowledge that they thought is 'obvious' so everyone should know, why share? The process repeats every time they learn nwe stuff. They missed the opportunity to share.

    Best thing is to do "time-travelling". Go back to prev years and share with people who struggles the same problem, the same exact thing that we learn or start with pre years back.

5. Why smart people fall hard from the top?

    They will fall hard if they took advantage of other people. They will not just lose that people, but they will also lose the network of those people. The system will be privately evoded. That's how they will fall from the top.

    They need to balance things. Be grateful, practice daily gratitude. When you realise that a lot of people have helped you, you'll not take people for granted.

6. Why smart people don't know their strengths?

    The real question is, how yo do identify your strength? Try journalling, you'll find patterns. Next is thru your mentors.

    Next, noticing what you notice, and noticing what you dont notice. Lastly is to notice the REQUEST that are made off of you.

7. Why smart people SHOULD be NICE?

    Being nice is not a bonus, its a necessity. Being nice is a HUGE competitive advantage.

    If you are nice and people are comfortable with you, you can jump/skip the tribe/level. People know that you're not enough to get or be there yet but because you are super likeable and nice, they will welcome you. So they will start to include you in all conversation as if you're part of them and the next thing you know is you knowledge becomes better. You'll be on the same level as them.

    Sooner then later, you'll grow fast and jump the tribe more.

DGP: Time Management

4 Happiness Hormones

1. Dopamine - happiness, good mood, rewards, build anticipation for next one.

    Like when playing games, the more you get, the more you play.

    Same with if you sell product. Give something.

    Motivates people to do more and they will like it.

    To boost: exercise, sleep well, eat protein.

    If you lack: insomnia, lack of motivation, difficult to focus, anxiety, moodiness.

2. Serotonin - happy chemical

    Regulates mood, depression & anxiety.

    To boost: exercise, sleep, natural sunlight, mind exercises.

3. Endorphin - exercise high/happiness

    Released during pain to counter attack the pain.

    Helps with sleep.

    Release when laughing out loud.

4. Oxytocin - bonding/love hormone

    Build during intimacy, closeness, laughter

    Can help with depression & anxiety.

Development starts with MINDFULNESS

1. Helps us choose life directions

2. Helps to avoid moment-to-moment distraction

" The unexamined life is not worth living " - Socrates

Knowing yourself will help with you self-development.

You have to be the BOSS of you.

Human issues that damage productivity are the hardest to solve for many people.

Every day, there are MORE distractions.

People used to read more, idle more.

Now, alerts come every few minutes. Messages, emails, chats, etc. Too much.

Even simple pomodoro practice is becoming hard. People can't focus.

FOCUS on the most important thing. Don't get distracted.

Time Management Matrix

- how long will it take?

- how much resources will it take up?

- how important is it really?

5-Point Prioritization Scale

1- show stopper. this needs to happen. important

2- very important

3- important but not urgent

4- low priority but should be done

5- for later

Few solutions to each task

- can it be eliminated?

- can it be automated?

- can it be optimized?

- can it be delegated or outsourced? someone else do it.

What if the Purpose of Life?

" You dont find yourself. You MAKE yourself ".

DGP: Social Media Marketing

What is Social Media Marketing?

A form of digital marketing that uses social networking platforms to increase brand and product exposure and to cultivate meaningful relationships with consumers online.

Setting your GOALS = REAN

R = Reach: how many customers do u want to reach? Who are your target customers?

E = Engage: interaction with your content. U want comment, share, like. How much do u want?

(you can use quiz/question to get interaction)

A = Activate: convert people to customers. Promotion, offer. Take action. Dont loose them. CTA.

N = Nurture: customer relationship. We take care of the relationship btween us and them. They pay, trust u. Give them added value.

Purpose of Nurture

- Repeated sales

- Referral

You need to create a SMART goal.

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable / Achieveable

R = Realistic

T = Timebound

Make your goal SPECIFIC. Make sure you can measure. If you wanna gain followers, how much?

For Marketing, you must START from where you are.

You must know YOUR STRENGTHS & the OPPORTUNITIES that you have.

What do you do to get their Attention? Why should they pay attention? Whats ur difference?

How do you know that they're Interested?

How do you push it to higher level, which is Desire?

How do you turn it into Action where they use your product?

2 Popular Content Writing Strategy

1. AIDA

2. APSA

P = Problem, what are their pain points?

S = Solution, what is the solution to their pain?

PROVE your products / services can HELP them.

Lastly, RETENTION.

You need to know what to do to make then STAY with you.

Need to keep in mind. Customer may be irritated with constant newsletter.

SO, when you send something, SEND SOMETHING THAT THEY CAN RELATE.

8 Steps to Creating a Social Media Strategy

You need to stalk your competitor. But dont copy their content.

From the results, continue what works and re-evaluate what didnt.

You need to know your customers. Dont just feed content to your social media.

You need to do CUSTOMER RESEARCH. If you dont know what your customer/viewer wants, you wont know what to post.

NICHE = very specific, segment.

What's your niche market?

Identify your niche market.

KEY MESSAGE

If you want people to stick with you, PLEASE do not forget these:

1. Give useful information = people dont care what u can provide until they know how much u care about them.

2. Give again = spend day and night taking care of your people.

3. Give more = give until they know you are there to help them with their problem.

4. NOW SELL = it will be an easy catch.

DGP: Strategical Marketing Planning

 Marketing

- Identify the needs of customers
- Satisfy the needs of customers

Contoh:

- kena keluarkan invois setiap bulan untuk semua pelajar

- kena kejar mana2 pelajar/ibubapa yang belum buat bayaran

- kena cari semula secara manual, rekod kewangan untuk buat laporan

- semua laporan, info, disimpan dalam file, susah cari, susah kekalkan

Purpose of Marketing:

- To sell more stuff, to more people, more often, for more money, for more profit.

When do we need marketing?

- When we reach a certain level, and there's no understanding of where to go further.

- Decreased in profitability.

- Work is goin on in the company, but you dont feel its affective.

- Increasing pressure from competitors.

- Customers express dissatisfaction.

- Enter a new market or introduce a new product.

Process of Marketing Plan

1. Stage 1: Where are we now?

2. Stage 2: Where do we want to be?

3. Stage 3: How might we get there?

4. Stage 4: Which way is the best?

5. Stage 5: How can we ensure arrival?

Competitor Analysis

Analyse competitors' strengths in:

- Positioning

- Offerings

- Resources

- Strategies

Analyze our company, competitors, customers.

LoRef = Loyalty and Referral Program.

Brainstorm --> Categorize --> Finalize

DGP: Communication at Workplace

1 benda kena ingat bila nak communicate dengan orang lain is, dont let your emotion gets to you.

Emotion plays a significant role in communication.

What is effective communication?

- Message is convey

- Effectively communicate with a range of people

Words > Process > Manifest.

How communication can be effective?

Always check for understanding: if kita cakap, takde respond or takde yg tanya soalan, then besar kemungkinan they dont get what youre saying.

Emotions > Facial expressions > Objective of speech.

Bila kita cakap dengan orang, jaga facial expressions. Kadang kita tak sedar, we look too stressed and that can actually reflects to the people twhom we're talking to.

- Stay positive all the time.

- Remember you are not just talking but you are communicating. Its 2 WAYS.

- Learn to listen more.

- Use polite words.

- Split emotions and work.

Sandwich method: say something good + say something to improve.

Dont use harsh words. Imagine, we use minimum 8 hours of our time at work, imagine working with people that stresses you out.

All of us are working on the same goal.

Words matter: THANK YOU and SORRY.

Even for the smallest thing, express gratitude.

Eg; ada yg kerja malam untuk tolong selesaikan isu, say thank you.

When giving opinion:

- Dont offend others!

- eg: Sorry but I think.. I believe it is better... Maybe we can... (remember 8 HOURS)

Agree & Disagree:

- If taknak jatuhkan air muka orang bila disagree, boleh buat 1-1 session lain.

- Always tone down ur intonations & words. "I must admit that its a great idea, but I think..", "I quite disagree because".

Asking for clarification:

Do not mix formal and informal.

In meetings:

- Introduce yourself & others (if required)

- Go thru points / notes, / outlines of meetings

- Ensure to follow agenda

- Ask questions for clarity purposes upon completing every topic/agenda

- Give time for response

Productivity is the key points. Dalam meeting, try to stick to the agenda. Jangan melencong masuk psal peribadi or benda2 lain yg takde kena mengena. Stop making meetings long.

What is CONFIDENCE to you?

Eye contact and body language.

Your eyes says more than your words.

- Make eye contacts with every one of them.

- Look at their foreheads.

- Then, slowly build confidence.

- Then, randomly look at all one by one.

Even your handshake can say something about your confidence.

Your posture, absolutely.

Your emotions will effect how your work. So try to ensure a positive emotions. Try to be clam and compose.

This will affect how you think, communicate and more.

DGP: Critical Thinking Skills for Professionals

Common problems in working:

- Little quality time

- Communicateion

- Unclear goals or expectations

- Supervisor

- Lack of accountability

- Differences of opinions

- Silos

- People working remotely

Why do problems occur?

- Changae

- Conflict

- Understaffed

- Lack of skills

When do problems happen?

- Goals are unclear

- People arent aligned

- Unclear expectations

- Miscommunication

- Disagreements

We all hear and view things DIFFERENTLY.

Problems keep on coming cuz theyre not very well to begin with.

The solution might be an idea suitable only for a quick fix.

DABDA

- Denial

- Anger

- Bargaining

- Depression

- Acceptance

7 -Step Problem Solving Skills Process

1. Problem identification

2. Reframe, into a form of goal oriented question

3. Brainstorm

4. Choose 3

5. Pros n cons

6. Prepare & recommend our recommendation

7. Get feedback

As for the brainstorming part, we actually do it everyday and individually. When we brainstorm alone, you dont have to think about people opinions or ego.

BUT, you may not developed ideas as fully.

With GROUP, you can take in all the ideas that the group have.

Try this:

1. Masing2 but goal oriented question

2. Pass ke orang sebelah (tambah info, idea, solution)

Bila discuss, dont be JUDGMENTAL. Once ada benda tu, akan terus shut down any new ideas.

Team akan start berhenti chip in their 2 cents.

Also, if ada idea yg bagus, jgn terus cakap 'good idea, lets go with that'. Fikir dulu. Is that really a good solution or tu cuma quick fix je? THINK!

Why do we need more than 1 solution?

Why cant we skip this step?

We NEED to ANALYZE more!

Kita taknak quick fix only to have the problem resurface again. We want to solve it once and for all.

Bila ada 3 solutions, EXAMINE.

Picture yourself communicating those ideas.

What could happen? Pushback? Any barriers? Is it practical?

Culture, rules, processes, procedures, etc.

Bila ada solution, be prepared to RECOMMEND that solution.

Prepare for these questions:

Be rational.

Akan nampak how well you actually go thru that solution before recommending it. Doesnt seem like u just throw it blindly.

BE and AVOID.

When you recommend an idea, you need to BE confident, BE calm, BE open-minded, and BE organized.

We also need to AVOID being defensive, AVOID being pushy, showing strong emotions, and threatening.

ENGAGE in FEEDBACK.

If you dont really like the idea or you can see how its not gonna solve the problem, say:

Or maybe recommend others should be included on the decision.

It might actually not be a NO, could actually be a MAYBE. Think through.

In Summary, example:

1. Problem: mcm mana nak cut a hole dekat kertas to put my head through.

2. Reframe: what cuttin g process nak kena guna, untuk bagi my head fit thru?

3. Brainstorm & organize ideas

4. Choose 3

5. Pros n cons

6. Prepare & recommend (state the problems and be rational. also be composed when presenting)

7. Be open to feedback

WordPress #3 | How to Change Website URL

Hi. Today we're gonna look at how to change your website URL in case you messed up. In this case, yes, I messed up. That is why this post existed. To reminisce about my mistake. It's okay, failure is the mother of success. Moving on.

First, you need to log in to your WordPress account. Go to Settings > General > Change both WordPress URL and Site Address URL.

It'll probably log you out. No worries.

Next, go to cPanel > search for Domains > click on the "Manage" button.

You need to look for the 'Document Root' file and correct the URL to match the changes you made in WordPress.

Can't seem to find it? It's okay, there's another way. Follow the steps below:

From cPanel, search and open File Manager > locate the WordPress Installation Directory. This is typically within the 'public_html' directory.

Click the 'wp-config.php' file and from the top navbar, choose Edit.

After it redirected you to the coding page, it's time for you to update your site URL.

Look for lines that define the site URL and home URL like so:

Then. change it to the correct URL that you desire. Save your changes and try accessing your website again.

If you STILL haven't managed to change it, like MEE! boy you gotta just accept the fate and re-install your site again. :") oh and don't forget to back up your site first.

Unless you have other ways, please follow that. Uninstallation is just an option I suggest.

DIVI Builder #6 | Start using Divi Theme (after installing)

Since, I, also always forget how to work with WordPress and Divi, so, I need to document this.

Okay, so some might get lost on what to do right after installing. Here are the steps. They're simple.

From your WordPress > Clik Page (side nav) > Click Edit on your main page > Click Enable Visual Builder (top nav).

Click on 'Start Building'. who needs a tour anyway. To make your life much easier and since this theme itself was bought for the sole purpose of lessening your burden, let's just choose a premade layout.

You can now browse freely and choose any layout that suits your taste. That's it. Have fun editing!

WordPress #2 | Add Favicon

Although small, favicon is a must.

A Favicon (short for 'favourite icon') is that small icon you see on the tab beside the title of whatever site you are viewing. They are there to add an additional branding element or just to look cute. For example, I add a rabbit icon as my favicon. Yup, just there to look cute.

Let's get into it shall we?

1. Login to your WordPress.
2. From the left menu bar, click Appearance > Customize.
3. Click General Settings > Site Identity.
4. Click Select Site Icon and upload your file.
5. Done!

Easy right? Exactly.

Ok bye.

WordPress #1 | Set a Page as Home or Default page

Hello.

To set that one particular page that you already pour your heart out and design, as the main page, just follow the steps below. Another easy tutorial.

Log in to your WordPress, go to 'Settings' > Reading > and change your homepage display to a static page as so:

Don't forget to choose your homepage.

Ok you're done! Easy right? yeah~