Alexis Tung's Blog

One habit that I have when reading about successful people (in biographies containing both their heydays and their down days), I always ask the question - What could he/she done better? However, what I am forgetting is that if the circumstances were different for that person, the person might not have been as successful as he or she were now. Therefore, the correct way to analyze any success case is - what did he/she do correctly that landed him/her in that position?

Posted in Personal Improvement

Next time when you are interacting with someone, try out this game:

Look at the person's actions and listen to what they are saying. Does it:

- Reflect a state of self-interest (what they want, their current need)

- Reflect their self-identity (how they want to be viewed as. how they see themselves)

List out and try to profile their needs and identity. You don't even need to be interacting with a person to try out this game. You can practice by looking through a few people's blogs. This game will help you gain a better understanding of the people around you.

Posted in Personal Improvement

I just passed by a box of Loveletters (a type of chinese biscuit). From the visual cue, the dynamics of cognitive association come to play. Without eating it, my memory brought out the smell and taste of the loveletter. I could immediately smell and taste it. This brought out feelings of euphoria. If not for the fact that I immediately identified that box of loveletters as an impulse trigger and start multiplying 14 by 14, while making my getaway from the source of temptation, I probably would have wolfed down a few of the loveletters. How long will this form of impulse control work? Only time will tell.

Posted in Personal Improvement

Following the last entry, I will have to remind myself that being right brain dominant is not all that bad. By being a feeling type, for instance, I use my emotions to remember things (emotions are needed to remember things in the long term). However, the overuse of certain types of emotions leads to an emotional addiction. It also means that when I use too much of a type of emotion to remember something, I will need more of that emotion to remember stuff next time. Not only do I need to make sure that I do not experience only 1 type of emotions all the time, I will need to make sure that the left side of my brain is well trained and that the connections between the left and right side of the brain are strong and healthy.

Posted in Personal Improvement

I just discovered a link between my right brain dominance as well as impulse control. I do have an impulse control. I eat and spend on impulse. My left brain tells me, 'Stop! Harmful!' but my right brain, asks me to carry on anyway.

I know I am right brain dominant coz I day dream a lot, I come with new ideas and I am a feeling type of person.  I am also left handed. However, being right brain dominant means that when I experience strong feelings, my right brain takes over. My impulses take over (the right side of the brain controls ones feelings as well as impulses). This disorder also means that the link between the left side of my brain and the right side is weak. I will need to strengthen the left side of my brain as well as the link between the left side and the right side. Here are some exercises that can help: esl.about.com/od/englishlessonplans/a/braingym.htm

I could also use sodoku, or challenge myself with math problems. I could also memorize random facts.

Of course, it is important to recognize the situations where the right brain gets revved up and the impulses present themselves. For instance, before I enter guardian phamarcy (a place where I tend to spend a lot of money), I need to tell myself that I might act on impulse there. Then, I might need to make a trip to the ladies room before entering that place so that I can do some left brain/ right brain connectivity exercises. The idea is to engage the left part of my brain as much as possible when doing activities that might pose a problem for my impulses. For instance, when shopping for stuff, instead of being excited at the prospect of using them later, I will need to focus on calculating the total price of these items in my head. Or if I am buying one item, for example, a bottle of slimming pills, I could trying memorizing their ingredients or try figuring out how much each pill will cost.

Posted in Personal Improvement