What is without 

Patience (Is it applicable in business too?)

I could tell you that the net is so wonderful. I recently found a site http://www.pearls.org/ and in there are so many gems that one could explore. On of it was this article. In business, Patience pays too. Learn more about patience.

Patience
Literally meaning endurance or bearing pains, sufferings and difficulties and showing resistance against them and dealing with problems calmly, patience is one of the most important actions of the heart which God mentions in the Holy Book in its many aspects. Because of its importance, patience is regarded as half of the religious life, the other half of which is thankfulness.
The Holy Book either orders patience itself in its many verses such as "Seek help in patience and prayer (2.45)" and "Endure, vie with each other in endurance (3.200)." In many verses of the Holy Book, "God praises the patient or declares that He loves them or mentions the ranks He has bestowed on them." For example:
"The patient and steadfast, and the truthful and loyal... (3.17)"
"God loves the patient (3.146)."
"Surely, God is with the patient (2.153)."
The Holy Book mentions patience from many other viewpoints or with respect to its many other aspects. For example, in the verse, "If you endure patiently, this is indeed better for those who are patient (16.126)" it advises patience as a preferable way in relations with unbelievers while communicating God's Message to them. In the verse "We will certainly bestow on those who are patient their reward according to the best of what they used to do (16.96)," it consoles the patient with the best of rewards to be given in the Hereafter. In the verse, "If you have patience, and guard yourselves against evil and disobedience, God will send to your aid five thousand angels having distinguishing marks, if they suddenly attack you (3.125)," it promises the believers Divine aid in return for patience.
How meaningful is the following saying of the Master of Mankind concerning patience and thankfulness, 'How remarkable a believer's affair is! For it is always to his advantage, and this is peculiar to none other than a believer. If something good happens to him, he gives thanks to God and this is to his advantage, and if something harmful happens to him, he endures it, and this is to his advantage also.'
With respect to the things requiring patience, patience can be divided into the following categories:
Enduring the difficulties of fulfilling the duty of servanthood to God or steadfastness in performing regular, periodical acts of worship;
showing resistance to the temptations of the carnal self and Satan to commit sins;
enduring the heavenly or earthly calamities, which includes resignation to Divine decrees;
steadfastness in following the right path without any deviations in the face of worldly attractions;
showing no haste in realizing one's hopes or plans which require a certain length of time to achieve.
With respect to its degrees, patience can also be dealt with in six categories:
Showing patience for the sake of God;
showing patience and attributing it to God, that is, being convinced that it is God Who enables one to show patience;
enduring without showing any impatience in the face of whatever comes from God, whether it originates from His Grace or Wrath, thinking that whatever He does, there is some wisdom in it;
accepting with the same degree of resignation whatever happens to one in the way of God, whether it be good or bad;
showing patience not to disclose to others the mysteries of the spiritual station one has and to preserve one's nearness to God;
resolution to fulfill one's mission of communicating God's Message to people despite one's utmost, unbearable desire to die and meet with God.
There are some other definitions of patience. For example, according to some, it is preserving one's manners in the face of misfortunes befalling one. Others have defined it as always being steadfast in the face of events without showing any sign of being deterred, and still others as living without giving in to one's carnal desires and impulses of one's temperament.
Another approach to patience is that one must attribute whatever is in the universe and happens therein to God Almighty and, while giving thanks for the things or events that appear pleasing, respond to apparently displeasing things or events with resignation. By the way, it does not constitute a complaint against God or Divine Destiny that a man unburdens himself to God in the face of the misfortunes or hardships that he cannot overcome or the responsibilities which it is impossible for him to fulfill or the pits of sin into which he is afraid of falling, and that he asks Him for help and seeks refuge in Him. Rather than being a complaint or objection or lamentation, according to the intention of man, doing so may even be regarded as a supplication, entreaty, and putting one's trust in Him or submission to Him.
Patience is both an essential characteristic of those most advanced in belief, spirituality, nearness to God and guiding others to truth, and the source of power of those advancing along the way to this final point. Since those who are the most advanced are the most visited of all by misfortunes, they are each a perfect embodiment of all aspects or kinds of patience to pay the price of the rank bestowed on them. Others who have been destined to advance as far as that final point cross the distances which others cross through different and frequent acts of worship, by enduring whatever happens to them. Concerning which, God's Messenger says: 'If God Almighty has destined a servant of His to a rank or position which he cannot reach through his religious actions, He causes him to suffer from his own self and family and equips him with patience to endure all his sufferings. He elevates him through patience to the rank to which he has destined him.'
A traveler on the path to God should know how to burn and boil with love or be consumed with afflictions but never inform others of his love and afflictions through complaint. Even if he is crushed under difficulties or responsibilities as heavy as mountains, he should not unburden himself to others by way of complaint.
Similarly, in order to attain true humanity, a man must be 'sieved' or 'distilled' many times and discover his true essence. Otherwise it is not possible for him to develop his potential to be truly human.
Patience is an essential and most important dimension of servanthood to God, and it is crowned with resignation to whatever God has destined for one. Resignation is the highest of the spiritual ranks in the sight of God.

If only we see...

If only we could use a Sales Blog shared with the entire company where customer interactions are noted. Contributing to it can be as easy as sending or forwarding an email. When we engage our agile planning process, sometimes directly with customers, we can draw upon these interactions and insights with ease. We could also take the agile methodology to task, iterating in small monthly cycles with continous requirements gathering, planning, testing and analysis. And our customers would love it too.

While surfing I bumped into this

Every manager should get their arms around this:


This method of establishing a sales force is called the sales learning curve (SLC). It's a concept adapted from the manufacturing learning curve (MLC), which is widely accepted in the manufacturing sector. The MLC states that the cost to produce the early units of a new product normally is high, but over time, as the production team learns how to optimize manufacturing and wring-out costs, volume increases and per-unit product costs decline sharply.
When we apply the MLC to sales, we come to the following conclusion: The time it takes to achieve cash flow breakeven is reasonably independent of sales force staffing. It is, instead, entirely dependent on how well and how quickly the entire organization learns what it takes to sell the product or service while incorporating customer feedback into the product itself. Because the entire organization has to come up to speed, hiring a large initial sales staff does not speed up the time to breakeven, it simply consumes cash more quickly...
Rather than starting with a large sales force, a company using the SLC is better served by hiring a small team of sales execs with the analytical skills and patience to lead the company through an iterative learning process that includes the continuous discovery and solution of small but crucial problems...
By adhering to the sales learning curve model of sales force staffing, you can safely toss out that old adage we started with. It doesn't have to take longer and cost more than you planned.

I wonder if SL could serve us too.

The last week

The last week was quite a week.

Daniel of ESRI South Asia was over to the office as Singapore was concerned on our accounts. We had recently got MacGDI tender and that had increased out transation significantly. The UTM tender also had some portion for them, although we had not sent in the purchase order.

We thanked them for support, but we expected them to be more proactive to differentiating us from the other resellers for our loyalty to them. We had maintained lead for so many years but they had not come up with any program to better our Vendor-Supplier relationship. He promised to look into that. In the end I gave them a cheque and a proposal until the next Chinese New Year. Subsequent to that I sent an email comforming more good news for them.

HSBC representative also came to the office and we suggested to them to propose us a solid finaing package that would help us to grow.

I also met Bank Mualamat for the same things.

Now and the Future

Tonite I went to Raja Ahmad's open house at Jalan Mesra, Off Jalan Damai, Off Jalan Ampang. There I was introduced to Halim, Osu's secpol from Kuala Krau and what he said prompts me to write this again. "That was before, what is important is Now, and more importantly the Future", and with those words I will start back with writing these weblogs, Inshaallah.

By the way, at the open house, I met Wan O with his two children. The wife is attending kursus haji with his eldest son. The wife will be leaving on the 31st December, and and will only be back in February. He will take over the full duties of being the caretaker for the children in the absence of the wife.

There too was, Halim and family, Charlie and family, Raja Nazrin and wife, and Ismail Bari from the class of 72.

Most of the other guest was the arts community, and I bumped also into the famous U-Wei, the film producer.

The Pita Kebab and the Tapai was nice. We went back quite early as the children were a bit impatient.