CHOICE

BEING POSITIVE ISN’T PRETENDING YOU’RE ALWAYS HAPPY.

IT’S ABOUT CHOICE. YOU MAKE THE CHOICE TO FIND THE GOOD DESPITE IT ALL.

~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller

THE HERO WITHIN US

It takes a lot of courage to push through hard times.

HARD TIMES DON’T CREATE HEROES.

Never give up.

IT IS DURING HARD TIMES WHEN THE HERO WITHIN US IS REVEALED.

Dig your heels in. Steady the course.

Good things are coming your way.

~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller

LIVE. BE AMAZING

There are no express lanes in life.

Remember the past. Live in the present. Aim for the future.

Live your best life now.

JUST BE AMAZING.

YOU ARE CAPABLE OF AMAZING THINGS.

~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller

THE COMPASS AND THE MAP

I WILL SUPPORT MY DREAMS UNTIL MY DREAMS SUPPORT ME.

GOALS.
GOALS ARE LIKE A COMPASS, PROVIDING YOU DIRECTION TOWARDS YOUR DREAMS.

HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT THE DIRECTION YOU ARE FOLLOWING IS THE RIGHT ONE?

PLAN
YOU NEED A PLAN. A PLAN IS A MAP SHOWING YOU THE PATHWAY TOWARDS YOUR DREAMS.

THE COMPASS (YOUR GOALS) HELPS YOU STICK TO THE MAP (YOUR PLAN).

SURE, ALONG THE WAY, YOU MAY FACE ROADBLOCKS OR LOSE DIRECTION; THAT IS NORMAL.

CONSTANT USE OF THE COMPASS AND THE MAP WILL HELP YOU STAY THE COURSE.

~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller

LET’S MEET AGAIN…

Like we did two weeks ago…

At 9.00am, on April 16th; our car was laden with things from our house that we were to ferry to Amcorp. The drive to PJ today, this Sunday morning; was nice. Traffic on the Federal Highway was light.

It was the second day of our sales, this time round. We parked our car in its usual spot (We chose this same spot the day before that. It was also the same parking bay we had parked at on both days the last time we were here, two weeks ago).

We lugged our two main luggage bags full of our things which we were putting up for sale, first. Got them to our booth and had them set up. I went back to the car to get the rest of the things while Jeannie arranged the things on display.

We were ready for “business” at 10.00am. Shanti, the lady selling Ipoh kacang and muruku; arrived with her daughter not long after that. By the way, the kacang and muruku she sells is not just the branding, “Ipoh kacang”, it is from Ipoh. Shanti who is usually accompanied by husband, drives a 3 hour drive, down to P.J. every weekend to sell her products.

One of the earliest visitors to visit our booth was an old time friend, Joseph Rocky Gomez (as in Rocky Balboa [Sylvester Stallone] of the movie, “ROCKY”) and his wife. The last we met was many years ago. It was great seeing him again after all these years. He hadn’t changed except that his hair is all white now.

As time went by, Jonathan and Liam, fans of my Hotwheels collection; dropped by…so did many other people.

I spent time observing some of the people running the booths. This brings memories back to the time a couple of years ago, when I first started writing or jotting down notes of my observations of my surroundings and the people involved. Some people thought I was a reporting journalist and became a bit defensive or apprehensive in what they said in front of me for fear (more like shy, shy [People like to say words in doubles like “play, play” “kaw kaw”{Chinese meaning really strong…usually used when ordering drinks like kopi-o kaw kaw}]) that I will “report” in my articles what they said.

I paid special attention to those that ran their booths as a bread & butter business, meaning the weekends at this flea market in Amcorp was an extension to the business they ran on weekdays. For many of them, the flea market was a different location to their business on weekdays.

I am not sure how they derive an income from these businesses they run. General rule of thumb would be profit after deducting costs is an income. Even with their simple mechanics of accounting; they will manage to own a decent home, send their children for local tertiary education and live a happy life (in most cases).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The experience, and meeting with many supporters of http://www.leatherpotato.com , old friends and new friends at our booth over the last couple of times in Amcorp Shopping Mall, has prompted us to have a booth there this weekend.

I am looking forward to meeting many more readers of http://www.leatherpotato.com . Please share your ideas and views. Let’s meet.

We will have more from “La” Batik Cape Creations. Renowned batik influencer, Jeannie Ong-Atkinson will be at hand for you to discuss batik with her.

Included in this weekend will be a Bang & Olufsen earbuds, more Hotwheels of yesteryear, a green dinosaur (has Barney shed his purple?) big, soft toy, more collectible bags and briefcases; and new BMW bags.

We will be at:

2nd Floor, Amcorp Shopping Mall,
Lot 2.04, Level 2
Amcorp Shopping Mall,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: April 29 and April 30, 2023
Time: 10.00am to 4.00pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)

See you all, there this Saturday (April 29th) and Sunday (April 30th).

SHARE YOUR MAGIC

You have no idea how good life is about to get. The next moment has yet to come. It will arrive. Then, the next moment after that, and the one after that.

We don’t know what the next moment in life holds for us. We can only guess.

In the meantime, we plan, have ambitions and set goals. All these help make the next moments of our lives more a possibility in becoming a reality.

Just share your magic with the world and watch each moment, which is a new scene in your life; unfold. Enjoy!

~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller

YOUR GOAL: WHEN YOU HAVE DONE IT

Just when you are about to complete the final lap in your goal, or you are inches away from achieving that one big thing you have always wanted to do and set out doing it…

Everything was going fine. Until…

Doubts sets in. Even fear. Fatigue.

Your friends and even your family may tell you that it is “ok. You’ve come this far in your goal,… in that one big thing that you have always wanted to do. This in itself is an achievement.”

You may even start thinking to yourself. “Yeah,… they are right. I have come this far, spent so much of energy, effort and time”. I should consider it a big achievement, pat myself on my back and be happy with it.”

Well, it is not “ok’. Water does not boil at 211 degrees Fahrenheit. It boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius.

So, while you should acknowledge all the little or smaller achievements or successes along the way while aiming for the ultimate; you should not give up on the ultimate “prize”.

It is really, really easy to lose focus on your numero uno. If your eyes are not on your numero uno; they are on a distraction. Distractions are a plenty.

Your main strength comes from being mentally prepared. You have to be motivated…at all times. This helps fuel your ambition to reach for your goals. You can attend motivation seminars, read or view motivational speeches on social media. You can have a mentor. All these should be a “must do”, a constant reference or consultation to help motivate you to stay on track. However, there is a secret. A secret so big, yet not many people know about it. Perhaps, that is why it still remains a well kept secret.

Should this secret be revealed? Ok, this won’t be an exception to the rule as the rule usually seems to mean to reveal the secret. I will talk about secrets and exceptions to the rule in another essay.

So, what is this well kept secret? Simply this: Motivation is 1% from the outside and 99% from within.

You can seek motivation from all the seminars and motivational gurus and the many created scenes that place you at the centre of them. All of these and I mean all of these will provide you only 1% motivation. You are at an all time dizzily high when you hear a motivational speech or when you are in a crowd that has euphoria. It lasts for a day or two or for the stubborn people…a week or so. Then you are back again at where you started from…wondering what happened to this all time high that was going to change your life. You are back again…looking for a new fix.

In all reality…motivation comes from within oneself. You will be dreaming it…finding how to get to the goal you want…not letting outside factors derail you from that goal. You will be fixated to it. The 1% motivation that comes from the outside is just a reaffirmation of what you are doing.

The “rah rah rah, yeah…you are doing all right…good job…that’s the spirit…keep it going…never lose focus of your goal…the encouragement from people especially those who are the who’s who in the big league in the field that you are pursuing your goal..”; all these make up that 1%. You realise that you will do it with or without all this. However, it does give you a bit of the “feel good” factor.

So, as you get into the final lap of your goal, what you may think “easy”, can be quite a hindrance. For whatever reason, you may take your foot of the gas pedal…and coast in “overdrive” mode. You may be well ahead of schedule towards this goal.

Remember, the race is not finished until you cross the finish line. The only time you can truly say you have done it is…well…when you have done it.

~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller

NOTES
1. https://leatherpotato.com/2022/05/14/think-about-it/