Check out Tim Ferriss’s blog on how to learn a new language quickly.

I can speak 4 languages relatively fluently (Mandarin, Taiwanese, English, Japanese), and can program two more (PHP, C), but I have never thought of learning a language like what Tim Ferriss has suggested. When I try to speak a language, I think in logical blocks. I connect distinct units of language (such as verbs and nouns, in a spoken language, or even variables and keywords in a programming language), and try to construct logic out of the combination.

My first solo backpacking adventure was to Japan, and this was after 3 years of on-and-off Japanese learning. I am still quite rough at the language, but I discovered that it didn’t require much language ability to survive in a foreign country. I learned French for a year, before I embarked on a journey to France. I was totally useless, but still survived. Now I believe one only needs to learn the following phrases in order to survive (please note, I say “survive”, not “get by”) in any country.

• Hello
• Thank you
• Sorry/ Excuse me
• Help…(with a pathetic expression helps)
• Where is…?
• Do you speak English?

The rest is just sign-language.

Tim Ferriss is an unique fellow. I also recommend his book The Four Hour Workweek. It’s quite inspirational. After reading the book, I realised that my new company, Yabbyland.com is essentially a tool designed to allow people to easily outsource daily chores to make life easier, as suggested by Tim.

Tim, I hope your blog makes it to the Technorati 1000 soon.

I learned about these two things today. Very interesting stuff for the evaluation of a long term project. In my rudimentary mind, this is my explanation for them:

NPV, Net Present Value, is a sum of future cash flow, within a set period of time, as projected using a certain percentatge return. In other words, we have the cash flows, we set the percentage return, and we find out the present cash value. NPV has to be larger than 0 in order for a project to be eligible for comparison. Because being larger than 0 means that it is sufficient to cover for the initial investment and the opportunity cost (the percentage we set). The percentage is usually derived from a combination of investor’s equity (times by rate of return as epxectede by investors (usually by historical value)), and borrowed equity (times by interest), or just the WACC, Weighted Average Cost Of Capital.

IRR, or internal rate of return, is essentially NPV set to 0. We have the initial investment, and we want to see if the forecast cash flow can satisfy our requirement for return. Therefore, the higher the IRR, the better.

This is my ridiculously erroneous and simplistic view of these two concepts.

Here is a lovingly hand-drawn page of a GTD Moleskine hack.

And here is a fellow webizen who doesn’t get the whole Moleskine cult. Hahah… I don’t hate it though, just don’t get it.

It’s like a mix of envy and curiosity. I still don’t know what’s so good about the Moleskines, but I am now attracted to them (probably only due to the shear popularity of them online). They are still way too expensive for me. I probably won’t find anything to write on them (Although I am writing a novel).

I had just discovered that Neil Gaiman is a lover of such goods. I am currently reading his Anasi Boys. Perhaps I will let my preference of his words to sway me of his taste in his stationery.

Also, I had come across this website. There is a wealth of beautiful drawings made in Moleskines. This reminds me of my drawing made on my journey around Italy. I guess, next time I make a solo journey, I will get a Moleskine.

I had also spent some time today reading up on GTD. And here is a Moleskine hack to accommodate the GTD system. Interesting stuff. I had recently bought a leather cover for the tiny notepad that I carry around. Now I will put GTD into practice.

GTD, according to Wikipedia:

GTD rests on the principle that a person needs to move tasks out of the mind by recording them somewhere. That way, the mind is freed from the job of remembering everything that needs to be done, and can concentrate on actually performing those tasks.

Man, this Moleskine research is turning into an Obsession.

I don’t get it.

After going through other people’s bags, I paid extra attention to the Moleskine notepads at the book store today. This would be my fifth or sixth time picking up a demo Moleskine, trying to fathom why so many people use them.

I still don’t get it.

It’s just a note pad, with a hard back. It’s stylishly minimalist. It’s also expensive, at about 10 times the price of a normal note pad. Being a Mac user, I can understand why some people would pay for a beautiful yet functional device. But at ten-times the cost?! I don’t know…. Also, I find the cardboard hard back adding unnecessary weight to the package.

I had also come across some Rhodia notepads, which are also twice the price of normal note pads. Admittedly, the Rhodia notepads have an ingenius fold on the cover, which allows the cover to fit snugly over the spine of the notepad. I like its simplicity, but I don’t think I will pay extra for that little bit of convenience. Even with a Paul Smith designed colour stripe at the bottom.

I am writing another post from the China Airlines lounge at CKS airport in Taipei.

I am going to the US again. This time it’s to Kingsport, TN. It’s gonna take 3 flights to get there.

I sooooooooo don’t want to go….

Come to think of it, I didn’t want to go to San Antonio earlier this year either.

Here is another interesting article on an old topic.

• Don’t chase money, power, or status.
• Take whatever time you need to discover what matters to you most
• Don’t base your choices on others’ approval.
• Stay authentic.
• Go for meaning over money every time.
• Be endlessly greedy—for learning.
• Make a friend of failure.
• Make sure that every time you make a mistake, it’s a new one.
• Choose to spend your time with the right people.
• Drop whatever is inconsistent with these principles.

As I walk on in this huge and old family business, sometime I wonder if work is meant to be hard and boring and suck the life out of you. Maybe no such thing as “interesting and meaningful work” exists. I still haven’t found what I am looking for.

There are many articles like it, but this is the longest (ha!).

Many good points were raised in this article, by seasoned entrepreneur Marc Andreessen, on why and why not start a start up. Many of these points are just simple facts which, in the delusional mind of a start-up founder, can often neglect. Many are experiences that have also crossed my path.

I guess the best way to deal with all of this is to simply - soldier on.

在一家公司發展的過程中，會持續面臨到許多的挑戰。客戶的要求會不斷提高，競爭者的能力也會不斷加強。適者生存，不適者淘汰。要保持在領導者的位置，就只有透過創新，來適應，甚至於領導這種改變。

雖然我進來公司的時間比起各位短很多，但是難免也會聽到人家在抱怨。有人抱怨說他的主管在等退休，有人抱怨工作環境打壓不同的意見。

聽到這些話，我們必須問我們自己，我們是否有在改變，還是我們已經對現況滿足了，還是我們對當第二名滿足了，已經停滯了。我們必須問我們自己，我們的商業模式是否有在創新，我們是否有在創造一個鼓勵創新的工作環境。

創新具有不確定性，有風險，有困難度，會受到上司，同事及環境的挑戰。但是，不論如何，改變你自己是你的責任，是我們對自己的責任，也是我們唯一保持競爭力的辦法。

但是我們的責任不只如此，在透夠教育來改變我們自己時，我們也有責任培養以及教育下一代的同事。創新，教育，培養，這種話不是嘴巴說說就好，要去執行。一個沒有自我創新，在等退休的人，淘汰很快就會找上你。一間沒有創新的公司，也不用等物競天擇，很快末日就會來臨。

創新具有相當的好處。我們看到日商，歐美廠商，待遇跟福利都令人羨慕。他們可以這樣做是因為他們賺錢，而他們賺錢的原因就是他們在產品與經營模式上有相當成功的創新，而他們能夠持續賺錢的原因是因為他們對創新有堅持的在進行投資。這就是我們的目標。

今年人資部門決定做一些創新，花了一筆不小的經費請專家為各位開課，提供各位這個吸收新知識的機會。我知道禮拜六上課很辛苦，而且是早上八點，所以希望各位更能夠利用這個機會為自己創新。