Hi Friends

In about a few days time, year 2011 will be over and we will be welcoming year 2012. Have you ever looked back in time and ask yourself what have you achieved so far? You might be thinking that time really flies and while you are so busy with your daily life that you almost forgot what you have done. Or you might just be thinking about what have you achieved for the past one year? Have you been achieving what you want out of your life or have you been procrastinating and postponing most of your plans? Well, whatever that have happened or not happened, they are already in the past. What is going to happen in the future is what are you going to do about NOW!

It’s been more than 1 year after I have battled kidney cancer. I was lucky. I lived but not some of them of the patients. One of the biggest takeaway for me is the importance of TIME. That’s all we have to live the life that we have always wanted.

In this Blog, I wished to share with you how I lived my life the way I wanted a year after cancer. My intention is to inspire you to live the life that you wanted, not what others expect of you.

1) CAREER

I love my job. I really do. 2 days after I was diagnosed with cancer, my life goes on. Some may be thinking that I am crazy but I was determined to live life as normal as possible. I run my trainings as usual, launched my 1st book titled ‘Do You Have What IT Takes To Be BOSS?’ and was interviewed by The Straits Times for having the intention of donating ALL sales proceeds of the books to The Straits Times School Pocket Fund.

A month after a massive surgery to remove my tumour, I was back to work even though I was not supposed to. I simply missed my life. My NLP Trainings carried on and I successfully launched 2 brands: Mind Kinesis NLP Academy (which specialised in NLP Training) and Mind Kinesis Value Investing Academy, which has the FIRST Singapore Value Investing Programme that is recommended by Mary Buffett, the Internationally Acclaimed Author & Speaker of the International Best Sellers ‘Buffettology’, ‘Tao of Warren Buffett’, ‘The Management Secrets of Warren Buffett’ and my company was featured in The ShareInvestment Magazine. We are now collaborating with huge partners in Singapore to launch some of the biggest events in Asia in 2012 as well as 2 new product launches. It will be an exciting new year! 

2) PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

The journey to Mastery does not have a destination. It’s an Ultra-Ironman Race where we should never stop learning. That’s how we grow and get better each year, so that we in turn, we can help others. Despite the busy schedule, I am happy to have successfully completed 4 Certification Trainings this year in which one took place in Brighton, United Kingdom where I have met new friends from all parts of the world. One of my Mexican friend, Agustin, even flew from Mexico to take part in my Value Investing Programme (VIP). It was awesome seeing him. On average, I sticked to my plan of reading at least 2 personal development articles per day with posting of some on my company’s Fanpage at NLP Singapore (www.facebook.com/nlpinsingapore) and Value Investing Academy (www.facebook.com/valueinvestingacademy). In total, I would have read more than 700 articles in a year.

3) HEALTH

This is the most important of all. However, most of us have ignored it and keep postponing exercising. I want to jog but I do not like jogging. So what I did was to tag a worthwhile purpose to it – Run with a Purpose. The most memorable run I had was the ‘Run for Hope’ 10km run where I did a few months back and I bumped onto Dr William Tan, one of my role model in terms of fighting spirit. In case you do not know who Dr William Tan is, just imagine a man on a wheel chair that does his tons of marathons not only on land but on ice, yes, on ice in Antartica. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with Cancer and he is till undergoing treatment. The doctor has advised him to not do his marathon anymore. Guess what he did. He switched to Table Tennis. He epitomised the Human Spirit.

I also picked up one sport in which I wanted to do for a long time – Muay Thai. I loved Martial Arts since I was a kid and I have done Shorinji Kempo, Judo & Nam Wah Pai (Black Black 1st Dan). Great to start learning to kick butts or my butts being kicked 🙂

4) SOCIAL & CULTURAL

My goal each year was to run a charity event for my preferred organization with a cause. One of the memorable one was that I organized a event for children who are beneficiaries of the Children Cancer Foundation. It was a simple event where we gather children who have survived cancer to play some games with scientific toys. Their parents came along and we had great fun. What’s meaningful about this event is that the parents appreciate my intention and they said ‘Thanks!”. Nothing is more heart-warming than that. For 2012, one of the organization that I target to help is Tan Tock Seng Hospice Care Centre. This is an organization where it is helping patients with a life span of not more than 12 months. It was also the same organization that has helped my mum when she was diagnosed with terminal stage lung cancer and was given 3 months to live. I was too poor then to give back after graduating from NUS with a huge debt years back, but now I could. It’s time to pay it forward! 

Other than doing things for a social purpose, I spent time with my friends as well. In case you do not know, most of my friends are my trainees and my trainees are my friends. This may be one of the reason why people love to attend my NLP Trainings or Value Investing Trainings. I can take their cause seriously and personally. Please watch one of our Yacht Gathering Videro here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEhZixXvl6k&context=C3cd01b8ADOEgsToPDskKGEnnxlNvi7ccOgLtRVbyt

5) FAMILY & HOME

Well, I intentionally leave this segment to the last. No matter how much fortune I have made, how others perceived me as successful or how much glory that I had, are these really important?

I was lying on my death bed more than a year ago, and guess what comes to my mind? I have always dreamt of having  happy family with 2 children. To me, this will complete my life. Unfortunately, after I had my 1st child and wanted to have a 2nd one, I was diagnosed with Kidney Cancer. My world collapsed. Nothing appears to matters anymore other than just spending a moment more with my family. My dream no longer can be fulfilled ……………….

It means more than a year now, and you know what? As I am typing this Blog on Christmas Day, I just had my 2nd little girl yesterday wher she was born on the eve of Christmas. A great Christmas Gift indeed!

If you are reading this Blog now, let me share with you a of my favorite quote by Dr Randy Paush who passed away because of terminal stage pancreatic cancer:

“Live your life properly, and the dreams will come to you” ~ Dr Randy Paush, ‘The Last Lecture’.

If you have anything to share with me personally, “Like” us at www.facebook.com/nlpinsingapore OR add me at www.facebook.com/caydenchang.nlp.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish!

Cheers!

Chat with me by attending our Free NLP Workshop.

Have a GREAT Christmas and an Awesome Year ahead!

Cayden Chang
Founder & Director, Mind Kinesis Management International
BSc(Hons), MSc
Lifelong Learner Award 2008 Honouree
Co-author, “Do You Have What It Takes To Be BOSS?”

Dear Friends

I was sitting calmly in a small waiting area in National Cancer Centre for my CT Scan in a blue robe given by the centre. There was an elderly man around 55+ and an elderly woman about the same age waiting there too. The woman started to talk and asked the man what cancer he had. The man replied that he has bladder cancer and how the cancer has affected his life. Suddenly, he stood up and lifted his robe to reveal what’s inside. Both of us were shocked. He showed us his external “bladder”, a plastic looking bag where his urine was stored. He then shared that he could not pee and has to empty this bag every time it’s full. He then continued to share how his life was affected by Bladder Cancer. The woman then turned to me and asked me what cancer I have. I told her Kidney Cancer and I am here to do my regular CT Scan. I shared my case briefly while both the man and the woman listened attentively. After listening to me, the woman asked both of us this question – “Why must there be Cancer in this world?”. There was nothing but silence. I then asked her what condition was she suffering from. She replied: “I have Bone Cancer”. She paused for a short while and she continued: “And it’s terminal”. She continued to share how her legs started to become weak and right now, it’s completely numb. It’s like walking on 2 wooden legs, with no sensation at all. While listening to her story, I started to get emotional and the nurse broke my state by calling out my name. I was next to do the CT Scan. I walked into the cold looking room, lied on the bed as instructed by the Radiologist and a fluid was injected into my body. It felt cold at first at the location where they injected the fluid but the hot sensation starts to move up to my head and slowly down to my whole body. The bed with me on it was then moved into a huge cylinder where I could hear a noise that sounds like a spinning motor. My mind wasn’t there. I was still affected by the elderly woman’s story and you know what ?

Have you ever been affected by what people said about you, how you looked like, how you behave and so on? I sure do. When I was in high school and JC, I remembered I was being labelled with negative remarks such as “Skinny”, “Skeletor (an evil character in the cartoon ‘He-Man’,  “Slow Learner”, “Ugly” by some class-mates. Initially, it started as a joke but somehow it slowly dawn on me that I was affected by these negative remarks. The more the labels were pasted on me, the more I believed they were true. That really affected me and my self-esteem. It went into a negative cycle. My grades fell when I was in JC and I went into bad company. What happened next? Read more at https://nlp1.myguaranteedseo.com/nlp-singapore/nlp-singapore-3-secrets-of-success.

Years have passed. Now, I have a beautiful & happy family, I run my own company & I am finacially free, and I have a huge number of wonderful and positive friends. As I looked back, those negative remarks and criticism were the best things that have ever happened in my life. Throughout this years, these negative remarks serve as a positive driving force. It made me more hungry, more driven to prove that all things are possible. It makes me realised that it’s our life that we are living, not others. What others say or label is immaterial because we should live our life based on our own expectation and beliefs, NOT other people’s beliefs. If we do not accept what they say, then we will not be affected by them. Do you have such people around you? If you do, let me share with you 2 questions that you may ask yourself – “Are these people important in your life?”, “If not, why do you allow the remarks of such unimportant people affect you?”. Well, I recalled recently when I was attending a training, a classmate asked me this question sarcastically “Are you Hyper?” after an activity. I kept quiet. The question reminded me of 2 things:

1) How one of my NLP Graduates’ son who has ADHD was being laughed at for being too active (they labelled his son as “Hyper”)

2) The negative remarks that I have received during my younger days.

Do I care about the “Hyper” remarks? I DON”T. Did I learnt something? I DID! Get rid of ALL negative people in your life and surround yourself with positive and supportive people. If they are unimportant, keep it that way which reminded me of what Steve Jobs said in his year 2005 Commencement Speech in Stanford University – “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Unfortunately, I got to hear a piece of sad news that Steve Jobs has passed away. I read an article about him and there is this quote: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful … that’s what matters to me.” ~ Steve Jobs. My Heart mourns for him and he continues to live in my heart.

I went back to National Cancer Centre again last month ……… to collect my CT Scan Result which was done in August. It showed NEGATIVE in the test results, which means POSITIVE in my life – I get to LIVE ……. AGAIN. Life goes on for me, enjoying every moment of it. If there are any NEGATIVE moments or people in your life, you can be sure that they are there to teach you something POSITIVE!

“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” ~ Steve Jobs.

Chat with me by attending our Free NLP Workshop.

Have a GREAT Week ahead!

Cayden Chang
Founder & Director, Mind Kinesis Management International
BSc(Hons), MSc
Lifelong Learner Award 2008 Honouree
Co-author, “Do You Have What It Takes To Be BOSS?”
Join our Fan Page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nlpinsingapore & WIN a copy of my latest book!
www.investment-in-stocks.com

Dear Friends

Secrets? Really? Is this article going to be another one of those that I have read somewhere?

Well, it’s a personal story of myself and it’s my Beliefs of Success. Who am I? In a nutshell:

My story started where I was brought up in a extremely humble family where my father was a fishmonger and my mum, a hardworking homemaker. Throughout my education, I survived on bursaries and getting a new pair of school shoes was a luxury. I was a obedient child at first but during my teenage years, I became a video game addict and fell into bad company. I did badly academically that I have to retake my GCE ‘A’ levels 3 times. No school is willing to accept a retake student. I did so much better during my 3rd attempt and managed to get myself into a good university. I borrowed money and worked relentlessly with a couple of jobs during my school days to fund my tuition fees and my daily expenses. My father passed away because of a heart attack when I was in Year 3 of my undergraduate studies and my mum died 1 year after due to terminal stage lung cancer. After I have graduated, I was deadbroke and owed a huge debt. I worked a couple of jobs day & night and repaid my debt within 1.5 years. I was penniless then, but it was one of the best moment in my life.

I worked hard and I eventually graduated with 3 Degrees (2 Bachelor Degrees & a Master Degree) and was even honoured a Singapore National Award called the ‘Lifelong Learner Award’ from the Minister of Manpower, Mr Gan Kim Yong, in 2008. I was subsequently featured in “TODAY” newspaper, “938Live Online News”, “938Live Radio Station” & “Mediacorp Xin.Sg”. I have also co-founded an award-winning educational board game (Ministry of Education Innergy award 2003), which was featured in “Channel 8”, “Channel U”, “Kids Central” and “LianHeZaoBao” .

After working previously as an employee for more than 10 years, I left my last job as an Assistant Vice President in a listed company to start my company called ‘Mind Kinesis Management International LLP’ which runs Mind Kinesis NLP Academy and Mind Kinesis Value Investing Academy focussing on training people in the arena of NLP & Value Investing. I am now Financially FREE!

Talking about a better life?

In July 2010, I was diagnosed with Renal Cancer. Despite having this disease, I continued with the launch of my 1st charity project in August 2010, where I donated all of the sales proceeds of my book titled ‘Do You Have What It Takes to Be BOSS?’, to ‘The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund’. This project was featured on 938Live Radio Station ‘The Living Room’ and Straits Times. My fight with Renal Cancer was subsequently published in Straits Times ‘Mind Your Body’ and I was also interviewed on 938Live Radio Station ‘A Slice of Life’.

I am currently happily married with a little girl and I am living the life that I have always wanted.

Well, it’s my personal experience and these are what I felt that they will be useful for you:

1) WINNERS BELIEVE “WHAT IF I SUCCEED”, OTHERS BELIEVE “WHAT IF I FAILED”

Before I left my previous company as an employee, I remembered vividly that there were occasions when I shared with my colleagues that one day, I am going to make in 1 day what people make in 1 month in this company. They all laughed with disbelief. “How is it possible?” they said. It has been a number of years now and the amazing thing is that I can make in 1 day their 1 year’s salary. It’s not the money that’s is important, it’s what one believes in. The logic is simple, one only do things that one strongly believes in and vice versa. If one did not believe in what he can do, he simply do NOTHING and nothing is what he gets. If one strongly believe in something, he is definitely going to do something about it. Before I started my Training Business, I was warned by my colleague, out of 10 people who runs a business, 9 failed. Unfortunately, I only think that I will be that 1. Another champion speaker whom I met from a Toastmasters Club shared with me that he previously left his job and became a professional speaker, but it was tough and he gave up after 1.5 years of struggle. Out of good intention, he shared with me that if I can survived for 1 year as a Professional Speaker, I am damn good already. I DID!

Does doing something guarantees success? May and may not. But one thing for sure, if one does Nothing, it’s a sure Failure.

So what do you believe in?

2) WINNERS ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY, OTHERS PUSH RESPONSIBILITY

“It’s not my fault”, “Hey, there is nothing much I can do here”, “He is the one. Go ask him”. Any of these sound familiar to you? If you are the one saying these, notice the words that you used. So what’s the big deal and benefit of taking 100% responsibility? When you take Personal Responsibility, you take charge even when things go wrong. You are the driver of your own bus. But the moment you start to push responsibility and blame others, you are implying that others take control of your life, isn’t it? And others are driving your bus.  

When I used to coach others, the common response when a person did not get their goal is that they will find tons of reasons why they did not reach their goal. That’s a good start – they have identified the problems. Unfortunately, that’s what they did and they simply did not learnt from it and ask themselves what they MUST do to reach their outcome. So why some decide not to take responsibility even they knew it was important? Ask yourself this , which one is easier – take responsibility or blame others? You see why people behave in the way they do? 

3) WINNERS PAY THE PRICE OF SUCCESS, OTHERS HOPE FOR SUCCESS

This is my personal favorite “Winners pay the Price of Success”. Success in whatever forms, tangible or intangible, does not drop from the sky. You want to be RICH, you got to pay the Price to be Rich. You want to be Successful, you got to pay the Price to be Successful. You want to have a Happy Family, you have to pay the Price to have a Happy Family. Lots of effort are involved. One of my favorite quote goes “The harder you work, the luckier you get” ~ Donald Trump. Most of us only see the end result of the successful people whether they are rich, famous, or simply happy but not many saw what they have done to achieved their success. One good example is that a participant was saying that being in the sales line such as Insurance or Real Estate makes big bucks. When I asked them why won’t they themselves do it? They replied: “No CPF. No employer’s CPF. No medical benefits. No leave. No regular salary.” You see? They know how much a Top Salesman will make. But are they willing to pay the price to get to the Top?What about you?

My personal take, whoever is up there, they deserved to be up there. You can make a Choice today to be one of them!

Have a great week ahead!

Chat with me by attending our Free NLP Workshop.

Have a GREAT Week ahead!

Cayden Chang
Founder & Director, Mind Kinesis Management International
BSc(Hons), MSc
Lifelong Learner Award 2008 Honouree
Co-author, “Do You Have What It Takes To Be BOSS?”
Join our Fan Page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nlpinsingapore & WIN a copy of my latest book!
www.investment-in-stocks.com

Hi Friends

One of the coordinator of Children Cancer Foundation (CCF) passed me a Photo Frame after I have organised a small event for their beneficiaries last Saturday (25th Jun 11), a group of fun-living children who have survived cancer. And on the picture within the photo frame was 2 people lying on a beautiful green patch of grass with a short paragrah and it read:

“THIS PHOTO represents the love I feel from all those around me. When looking at this photo, I feel the deep love between the 2 people in it. Similarly, when I see my friends and family, I can sense how much they care for me ….. I remember the wonderful things they have done for me during my cancer journey ….. My perspective on love between friends, family and lovers would be exactly how everyone would view this photo – simple, yet beautiful.” ~ Tracy, 16 Years Old (Survivor of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia).

Along the way to the event venue in a Coach, I was chatting with the coordinator of CCF and I wanted to know what other things any member of the public can help. I asked a question about  how terminally-illed children patients cope with the last few weeks or even days of their life. She shared that one initiative CCF has is to grant them a last wish before the patient leave. She shared about a case where a young teenager wanted to fulfil her last wish – which is to be a Chef. CCF quickly make arrangements where the teenager can visit a Professional Chef so that her dream can come true. Unfortunately, after arrangements were made, the patient suffered a relapse and she no longer is fit to realised her dream. However, the Chef initiated to bring all his cooking equipments to the patient’s home. Eventually, the patient was dressed up like a professional Chef at home and she had such a memorable & wonderful time with the Chef even though she was physically lethargic. Her DREAM came true. She became a Chef for that day ………. and she left subsequently ………….. I almost teared after hearing the story as it reminded of those days when I had renal cancer. I told the CCF Coordinator that I wanted to be a Sponsor to make the Dreams of the terminally-illed patients come true and I really mean it. I really hope that all of their patients survived and I will never receive any phone call from them. But if they really need me, I will always be ready to support the patient to make their last wish come true!

In about 1.5 months time, I will be having my next CT Scan and it will also be my One-Year Anniversary of Cancer Remission. Every single time when I received the CT Scan Results and it shows negative, I felt that I have been granted at least another 6 months to live and I am happy to live and make the best out of it. The best part about being able to wake up and live to see another day is not about how much money I make, or whether I appear in the Radio or Press, or whether did I became popular each day. It’s just a simple thing that I wanted, the exact same thing that I wanted when I woke up every single day when I was warded last year after my cancer treatment – to be able to open my eyes again and see my loved ones again, be able to look at the beautiful sky, the evergreen trees with their leaves swaying in rhythm with the gentle breeze. Nothing more.

As you start a Brand New Week again. Let me share a quote with you – “I remember promising myself that should I live, I would prove myself deserving of life” ~ Terry Fox, who died because of cancer but he raised millions of dollars through his Marathon of Hope during his last days. But we all lived to see another day. Will you promise yourself that you will prove yourself to be deserving of LIFE? I know you will!

Cheers  to LIFE!

Chat with me by attending our Free NLP Workshop.

Have a GREAT Week ahead!

Cayden Chang
Founder & Director, Mind Kinesis Management International
BSc(Hons), MSc
Lifelong Learner Award 2008 Honouree
Co-author, “Do You Have What It Takes To Be BOSS?”
Join our Fan Page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nlpinsingapore & WIN a copy of my latest book!
www.investment-in-stocks.com

The World is beautiful, isn’t it?

Hi Friends

Now you understand what NLP is all about and a brief history of NLP. Ther next question is how do you use it to produce results for yourself?

One of the essence of NLP is NLP Modelling. In simple terms, NLP allows any individual to understand a the pattern of thoughts of any outstanding individuals (eg, Top sales people, top public speakers, top corporate executives, etc.) and run this set of programmes consciously in our mind to an extent that it becomes part of us (unconscious). When we need a certain behaviour such as confidence, bravery, motivation, etc., we just need to ‘switch on’ this patterns and let it run in our mind. That will unconscious produce any type of behaviour that we want. 

In a nutshell, when we want Confidence for Public Speaking, click on the ‘switch’ and Confidence is what we’ve got. When we want Motivation to do well in our work,  click on the ‘switch’ and Motivation is what we’ve got.

For a more technical explanation, you can watch John Grinder ‘s (Co-founder of NLP) video below:

A simpler explanation by Anthony Robbins:

Want to know how NLP can help you to ACHIEVE ANYTHING YOU WANT? Chat with me by attending our Free NLP Workshop.

Have a GREAT Weekend!

Cayden Chang
Founder & Director, Mind Kinesis Management International
BSc(Hons), MSc
Lifelong Learner Award 2008 Honouree
Co-author, “Do You Have What It Takes To Be BOSS?”
Join our Fan Page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nlpinsingapore & WIN a copy of my latest book!
www.investment-in-stocks.com