Merepek

Day 27th

The TC emailed.

The TC unblocked.

Tak sia-sia aku buat tesis pasal social media.. tak sia-sia aku macam nak mati baca article baca buku.. sampai sepupu-sepupu aku sekarang kata muka aku dah sebijik muka abang aku yang sudah early 50's. Nampak sangat PhD telah membuat aku nampak tua... tapi takpe abang aku hensem... so aku pun kategori yang sama la kot.

The answer to resistance is persistence. Itu yang aku belajar masa buat sales di CIMB dulu. Kena muka tak tau malu, kena muka tebal, kena 'gegeh' kalau ikut cakap Kedah.

Pendek kata, do not fear rejection. Itu kata-kata bosses masa aku kat CIMB dulu..

Majority of advises that I've received during this 27 days sound like this..  "leave the TC alone.. The TC needs some space.. The TC needs some time." However, I don't have much time. My goal is GOT (Graduate On Time)... and the TC has been a part of my support system for many semesters. The TC was there for three chapters. Thus, I must ensure that the TC is here for another 4 chapters.

Dan knowing me who loves to do things differently, so my approach in handling TC's resistance was different. I took sales perspective.

Ternyata, experience di SingTel jadi customer service angkat telepom, buat sales kat CIMB, amek course Marketing kat Drexel, jadi speaker and communication trainer kat Pusat Latihan AADK dulu sangat membantu.

Aku sebenarnya was-was. Adakah being persistence yang didapati always effective dalam sales is also applicable to personal life???

Aku emailed the TC every day. Updated my progress, showed some evidence that I am changing dan lebih berdisiplin, and therefore I am worthy to be re-contacted... Yeah, kerana persistence dan dengan pertolongan dari yang Di Atas... the TC responded. Aku bersyukur.

Beliau senyap... maka ramai kata aku juga wajar senyap

Tapi I didn't keep quite. Sebab beliau sudah senyap... so, aku percaya senyap lawannya bising. Macam api, tak boleh dilawan dengan api.. tapi wajar disimbah air. Bukankah melakukan perkara yang berlawanan itu berkesan?

Begitulah aku yang suka buat sesuatu dengan cara yang berbeza.

Tapi tak luar biasa pun, sebab menda ni perkara biasa dalam sales and marketing. Yeah, I am pushy... pushy can be annoying...  But we have just to push... push our product. Marketing... what is marketing? Marketing is about creating demand. The people do not need the product... kalau tak pakai product tu pun tetap orang boleh hidup,.. tak makan menda tu boleh je sihat.. tapi marketing does the magic.

Macam lagu kat radio la.. mula-mula dengau tak sedap langsung.. tapi stesen tu hari-hari putar.. dalam pada annoyed and benci dengan lagu tu.. lama-lama listeners boleh ingat setiap bait lirik dan lentok melodi by heart... maka, persistence is the answer to resistance.

Another part.. majority terlalu takut to annoy others.... I was reminded.. "do not annoy the TC."

Frankly, my psychology macam kanak-kanak.. or a teenager...  I read the message as "do not annoy the TC."

Lebih kurang macam "do not smoke..."

BTW, tengok kat TV... commercials are annoying.. that guy.. you know that young Datuk of D'Herbs. He is extremely annoying!!! Datuk Seri Vida is just plainly annoying.. who else? Yeah, that Jom Singgah program which is meant for homemakers is full of annoying characters.. dari hostnya.. Maria Tunku Sabri.. sampailah pada pengasas product and representatives dari those SME companies.. semua annoying.. I believe, we just have to face the reality.. annoying is entertaining. Annoying sells!!!

Man.. am I annoying??? hahahaha.

Dalam politics... prior to social media era.. long before (not that long sebenarnya) Facebook, Twitter, YouTube... long before Instagram and Whatsapp... political parties.. especially di Barat.. pastu kat Mesia, the ever vibrant PKR and DAP has been using email for political engagement and even for political recruitment (perkaderan politik).

Aku dah kena block kat whatsapp.. even nombor aku kena block.. balik kampung aku kontek guna Emak and Ayah nye phone.. both numbers pun kena block. I went to payphone.. Nombor public phone pun kena block. No other means left, except for the email.

Email sounds conventional these days. Tapi, that 45th POTUS hopeful, Mrs. Clinton is using email for political communication and fundraising... oh... POTUS is President Of The United States. Yeah, I have been receiving emails from her camp since registered as one of her supporters... Yeah I really wanna see what kind of world that we gonna live in bila a woman jadi the most powerful person on earth. World peace? Or the world crumbles into pieces???

So.. It is proven.. email is still a relevant choice for many purposes.. for sales, marketing, for politics.. for administration.. even personal.

Tu hari aku sembang dengan Pips.. Not my niece.. This is another Pips.. this Pips is just like my very own Pips.... She is beautiful inside and out... She is brilliant... She is strong..  (BTW, my Pips sakit.. tapi dia tak pernah tunjuk dia sakit... aku ralat tak dapat bantu Pips dengan bersungguh.. Tapi Pips... I promise you.. I will help you... You are always in my prayer.)

Ohh...  our conversation lingered around personality and its relationship with astrology. Haha. I am Taurean. Lombu.. macam Lombu Kak Ijat.. Lombu NFC.. Lombu One Menerung.

Pips mentioned how degil a Taurean can be. Yes, admit itu. Aku terlalu degil, tidak mendengar kata. Tapi from another angle, degil is persistence, degil is tidak give up, degil is tidak putus semangat.. degil is annoying.. hahaha... lol (BTW.. what are you? A HAHAHA-person or a LOL-person?)

Kenapa aku buat perkara yang berbeza daripada yang dinasihatkan?

Perlu aku tegaskan.. aku mendengar.. I am an excellent listener. I appreciate other people's point of view... Aku percaya kepada kepelbagaian pandangan.. I embrace agree to disagree.. I am democratic

But when it comes to deciding what's the best... I believe in Plato's Philosopher Kings... yang jadi justification or basis of 'strong government,' 'developmental state,' 'government knows all.' Versi yang teruk is dictatorship....

Aku percaya setiap manusia itu hebat.. tapi yang terpalinghebat... yang terpaling luar biasa... yang terpaling berani... yang terpaling kaya... yang terpaling bijak tidak ramai.. tidak banyak.. itu sebab societies.. tak kira era tak kira lokasi.. shapenya always macam the pyramids of Giza.. Itu sebab 'class theory' by Karl Marx (sama birthday dengan aku) is still applicable sampai sekarang walaupun communist countries sudah boleh dibilang dengan jari... even communist countries are no more communistic.. today they are too capitalistic.

Berpandukan kepada perkara yang di atas maka apabila aku buat decision, aku terpaksa ketepikan pandangan 'the masses.' The masses are apathy, mediocre.. less informed.

Macam Philospher Kings, menurut plato dalam sesebuah masyarakat, ahli falsafahlah yang terpaling bijak, yang terpaling berkebolehan memerintah, yang terpaling hebat dalam membuat keputusan. Dan bukan semua orang punya talent untuk menjadi ahli falsafah.

In relation to diri aku yang selalu yakin diri bahawa aku "the brain" (tapi bangang math.. cemana?).. Maka, apabila melakukan sesuatu aku percaya aku punya approach adalah yang terpalingbaik. Mengapa? kerana kebolehan aku melihat sesuatu dari bermacam angle dan disokong oleh kepelbagaian ilmu dan pengalaman... Ha Ha Ha... See.. aku dah mula bangga diri dan lupa diri...

Sedikit merendah diri.. aku adalah the brain dalam politics.. dalam ilmu.. dalam disiplinnya.. tapi apabila mempraktisnya?? Tak mampu atasi KJ.

Macam Ramli M.S... paling hebat mengkritik orang menyanyi.. dan menasihati apakah cara terbaik untuk keluarkan suara dari tekak...  itu kerana ilmunya.. tapi suruh dia nyanyi? Sedap?

Apapun, perkara yang telah aku pelajari sepanjang 27 hari ini..

Pertama, persistence works...

Second, rejection is invitation for more communication (takleh guna 'do not' fear rejection.. nanti otak proses jadi "do not fear rejection")

Thirdly, we know what is the best for ourselves. Listen to others, but OWN the decision.

Aku nak baca Yasin... tadi lepak Shah Alam agak lama.. It was a good meeting with colleagues from FBM. Love em both.

Thank you Allah.