Care Enough

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” —Mahatma Gandhi

 

Life comes from physical survival; but the good life comes from what we care about.

- Rollo May

 

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

- Marcus Aurelius

Step with care and great tact ,and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act.

- Dr. Seuss

Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself.

- Andrew Carnegie

Humility is the true key to success. Successful people lose their way at times. They often embrace and overindulge from the fruits of success. Humility halts this arrogance and self-indulging trap. Humble people share the credit and wealth, remaining focused and hungry to continue the journey of success.

- Rick Pitino

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, 'What's in it for me?'

- Brian Tracy

The biggest hurdle is rejection. Any business you start, be ready for it. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is the successful people do all the things the unsuccessful people don't want to do. When 10 doors are slammed in your face, go to door number 11 enthusiastically, with a smile on your face.

- John Paul DeJoria

Successful people make money. It's not that people who make money become successful, but that successful people attract money. They bring success to what they do.

- Wayne Dyer

When you're around enormously successful people you realise their success isn't an accident - it's about work.

- Ryan Tedder

The freedom to fail is vital if you're going to succeed. Most successful people fail from time to time, and it is a measure of their strength that failure merely propels them into some new attempt at success.

- Michael Korda

“Courage is grace under pressure.” —Ernest Hemingway

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” —Albert Einstein

“It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.” —Confucius

“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” —Warren Buffett

“There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.” —Nelson Mandela

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” —Wayne Gretzky

“You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.” —Michael Jordan

“I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.” —Neil Armstrong 

“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” —Mary Kay Ash 

“If you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything.” —Malcolm X


“It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.” —Abraham Lincoln

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.” —William Edward Hickson

“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” —Audrey Hepburn

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” —Colin Powell 

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” —Walt Disney

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” —Michael Jordan 

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” —Barack Obama

“Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once.” —Drew Houston

“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” —Albert Einstein

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” —Maya Angelou 

“If you can do what you do best and be happy, you’re further along in life than most people.” —Leonardo DiCaprio

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” —George Bernard Shaw

“Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” —Harriet Tubman

“What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” —Napoleon Hill

“A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.” —Billie Jean King

 “If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.” —Andrew Carnegie

 “If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.” —Elon Musk 

 “The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” —Barack Obama

Nothing truly valuable arises from ambition or from a mere sense of duty; it stems rather from love and devotion towards men and towards objective things.”
—Albert Einstein

Gratitude

 "Your are not born a winner; You are not born a loser. You are born a chooser.”

“I’m thankful for my struggle because without it I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength.”
- Alex Elle

“Just an observation: it is impossible to be both grateful and depressed. Those with a grateful mindset tend to see the message in the mess. And even though life may knock them down, the grateful find reasons, if even small ones, to get up.”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or we can rejoice that thorn bushes have roses.”
- Abraham Lincoln

“You don’t have to do this.  You get to do this”
- Tom Kubis

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
- Epicurus

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count.”
― Neal A. Maxwell
 

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”
― Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

 “True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.”
― Seneca

Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.”
― Maya Angelou, Celebrations: Rituals of Peace and Prayer

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”
― Meister Eckhart

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
― Maya Angelou

“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”
― John F. Kennedy

“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.”
― James Herriot, All Creatures Great and Small

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive—to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love—then make that day count!”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us - and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.
Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.”
― Thomas Merton

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

“God gave you a gift of 86 400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you ”
― William Arthur Ward

“The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.”
― Thornton Wilder

“When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.”
― Anthony Robbins

“In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
― William Arthur Ward
 

“In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“And when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in your heart:
Your seeds shall live in my body,
And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart,
And your fragrance shall be my breath,
And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons.”
― Kahlil Gibran

“Those who have the ability to be grateful are the ones who have the ability to achieve greatness.”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

“If we never experience the chill of a dark winter, it is very unlikely that we will ever cherish the warmth of a bright summer’s day. Nothing stimulates our appetite for the simple joys of life more than the starvation caused by sadness or desperation. In order to complete our amazing life journey successfully, it is vital that we turn each and every dark tear into a pearl of wisdom, and find the blessing in every curse.”
― Anthon St. Maarten, Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”
― William Arthur Ward     

“Got no checkbooks, got no banks. Still I'd like to express my thanks - I've got the sun in the mornin' and the moon at night.”
― Irving Berlin

“[Gratitude] turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity...it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
― Melody Beattie

“The greatest wisdom is in simplicity. Love, respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It's not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free. It's encoded in your DNA. All you need is within you. Great teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will find your way.”
― Carlos Barrios, Mayan elder and Ajq'ij of the Eagle Clan

“Whatever you appreciate and give thanks for will increase in your life.”
― Sanaya Roman, Living with Joy: Keys to Personal Power and Spiritual Transformation



“The problem that we have with a victim mentality is that we forget to see the blessings of the day. Because of this, our spirit is poisoned instead of nourished.”
― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

“What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude.”
― Brené Brown     

“Today's Quote:
Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”
― W.T. Purkiser

 “When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”
― G.K. Chesterton

“A grateful mindset can set you free from the prison of disempowerment and the shackles of misery.”
― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience''

“Thankfulness creates gratitude which generates contentment that causes peace.”
― Todd Stocker

“Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation.”
― John Ortberg, When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box

“I may not be where I want to be but I'm thankful for not being where I used to be.”
― Habeeb Akande

“Gratitude means to recognize the good in your life, be thankful for whatever you have, some people may not even have one of those things you consider precious to you (love, family, friends etc). Each day give thanks for the gift of life.You are blessed”
― Pablo

“The more grateful we are, the more we practice this in our everyday lives, the more connected we become to the universe around us.”
― Stephen Richards
     

Self-discipline and Law

I value self-discipline, but creating systems that make it next to impossible to misbehave is more reliable than self-control.

- Tim Ferriss

 

I don't quite agree with this quote, but it reminded me of something about law that we hate.  It's draggy, imposing and how we wish we didn't have all those dreadful laws to obey....

This quote strikes at the heart of the problem with societies regarding law and freedom.  We want an idealistic society where everything is peaceful, safe and beautiful, where there is freedom to do things you want to do, say things you want to say, where there is harmony and no contention between people, etc.  But how do you create such a society?  It will only work if everyone is self-disciplined enough to abide by the same rules and self-disciplined to say the right things all the time and self-disciplined to do the right things all the time.

Simply put, if everyone is self-disciplined to pick up garbage if they see it; and clean up after themselves so they don't leave any mess for others to clean, we would have a clean city.  But if people do not do that, we need to put laws in place to ensure that they learn this rule.  And if laws are put into place, correction measures must be put in to discipline anyone who disobeys.

Disobedient people come by 2 ways: the lazy ones who try to take short cuts when no one is watching and the unenlightened ones who do not understand the reason for such laws.  In other words, laws are unnecessary in a society where everyone is self-disciplined to keep the rules.  (Rules can also be seen as culture or ideals inculcated into the society, that tells apart an enlightened, cultured and learned society vs a society where people live in anarchy.)

As such, people in power often need to take a 2-pronged approach to maintain the society: teaching and promoting the ideal culture and appealing to people's better natures (let's all keep a clean environment for everyone to live in comfort and disease-free); and imposing laws and sanctions for to deter those who may disobey (if you are caught littering, you do correction work or pay a fine).

Such rules must be simple and fundamental and what the majority wants, or everyone will not follow it.  Also, if the people in power (parents, governments, teachers, etc) neglect the former - educating the people - they will have to sanction a lot of people who do not understand why such laws are needed. Too much of this and they would have a revolt in their hands (especially if they cannot justify to the people why having this rule in the first place is necessary and beneficial to everyone).

Self-Discipline

"Self-discipline is a form of freedom. Freedom from laziness and lethargy, freedom from the expectations and demands of others, freedom from weakness and fear—and doubt. Self-discipline allows a pitcher to feel his individuality, his inner strength, his talent. He is master of, rather than a slave to, his thoughts and emotions." — H.A. Dorfman The Mental ABCs of Pitching   

 "The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might and force of habit. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him—and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires." — J. Paul Getty
 

"We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit." — Aristotle

 

"Success is actually a short race—a sprint fueled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over." — Gary Keller

 

"Success is a matter of understanding and religiously practicing specific, simple habits that always lead to success." — Robert J. Ringer

 

"The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince." — Vince Lombardi

 

"Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power." — Lao Tzu

 

"Rule your mind or it will rule you." — Horace

 

"If we don't discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us." — William Feather  

"The first and best victory is to conquer self."

— Plato, Greek Philosopher

 

"Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There's plenty of movement, but you never know if it's going to be forward, backwards, or sideways."

— H. Jackson Brown, Jr., Author

 "It is not enough to have great qualities; We should also have the management of them." 

— La Rochefoucauld

"A man without decision of character can never be said to belong to himself . . . . He belongs to whatever can make captive of him." — John Foster Author

 

"Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It's a state of mind-you could call it character in action." — Vince Lombardi

 

"A successful career will no longer be about promotion. It will be about mastery." — Michael Hammer

 

 

 

"Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them." — Winston Churchill

 

"Everybody starts at the top, and then has the problem of staying there. Lasting accomplishment, however, is still achieved through a long, slow climb and self-discipline."

- Helen Hayes

 

 Let me . . . ; remind you that it is only by working with an energy which is almost superhuman and which looks to uninterested spectators like insanity that we can accomplish anything worth the achievement. Work is the keystone of a perfect life. Work and trust in God." — Woodrow Wilson

 

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well." — Pierre de Coubertin, founder of modern Olympic Games

 

 
"Happiness is dependent on self-discipline. We are the biggest obstacles to our own happiness. It is much easier to do battle with society and with others than to fight our own nature."
- Dennis Prager

 I think self-discipline is something, it's like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.
- Daniel Goldstein

Self-discipline is an act of cultivation. It require you to connect today's actions to tomorrow's results. There's a season for sowing a season for reaping. Self-discipline helps you know which is which.
- Gary Ryan Blair

 "It is necessary to try to surpass one's self always: this occupation ought to last as long as life." — Queen Christina of Sweden

 

 "Never suffer your courage to exert itself in fierceness, your resolution in obstinacy, your wisdom in cunning, nor your patience in sullenness and despair. " — Charles Palmer

 

 

 

The only discipline that lasts is self-discipline.

Bum Phillips

 

I see my upbringing as a great success story. By disciplining me, my parents inculcated self-discipline. And by restricting my choices as a child, they gave me so many choices in my life as an adult. Because of what they did then, I get to do the work I love now.

- Amy Chua

Long-term, we must begin to build our internal strengths. It isn't just skills like computer technology. It's the old-fashioned basics of self-reliance, self-motivation, self-reinforcement, self-discipline, self-command.

- Steven Pressfield

"Nothing is more harmful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army superiority over another." — George Washington

Whether you call it Buddhism or another religion, self-discipline, that's important. Self-discipline with awareness of consequences.

- Dalai Lama

 

If you set goals for yourself, and you're like a lot of other people, you probably realize it's not that your goals are physically impossible that's keeping you from achieving them; it's that you lack the self-discipline to stick to them. It's physically possible to lose weight. It's physically possible to exercise more.
Daniel Goldstein

 

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself-and be lenient to everybody else." — Henry Ward Beecher

Teaching Dance: Work or Play?

Many people always come up to me and say "Wah you teach dancing full time ah?  So lucky to be able to work on something that you like!"  And unspoken in that is 'how I wish I could be like that and have a full time job on something that I love too'.

It's funny that many people think teaching dance just consists of going into the class, telling a bunch of people on what steps to take, how to take them, turn on the music and viola!..

The dance classes come about because of a series of things that are needed to be done to accumulate in an event that is the class.  Most people don't see all the work that goes on into this.  There are students to call for class, there are students schedules to arrange, there are syllabus and choreographies to be set up.  The prep work is significant, like many other kinds of jobs.  It is fun, but the hours are long, and topsy turvy to regular work hours (yeah, we work retail hours).

Honestly, I don't consider teaching work.  I enjoy sharing and teaching people, especially if I have a lot to share with them and they are like absorbent sponges.  What I consider work is the stuff that everyone else considers work: paying the bills, admin stuff, organizing schedules, settling enquiries, marketing and other stuff.  Teaching is the time that I make friends, socialize, contribute to society by sharing my knowledge with others.  Setting syllabi and choreographies are also not work, coz I genuinely enjoy the creation process, and it's my fun time.

I'm immensely grateful to be in a job that I love and that I enjoy doing.  I'm glad that I can have so much fun in my work, that I can make great and awesome friends, and that I can share so many things with many people and watch them grow and mature from beginners into great dancers.  It's so amazing to see their love, passion and appreciation for life grow through dancing.  I truly enjoy that and I am super humbled by this grace God has given me to be able to impact many people's lives.

I used to think that my talents are small and minor in the light of the things of the world.  I mean, what is dance compared to saving people's lives in medicine, or the ability to create amazing technologies, build fantastic houses and other things.  But now, I see the value I bring to people's lives, sometimes more than what money can buy.  In the mature people, I help them to maintain their fitness and health; I keep their feet and mind nimble, helping in the prevention of diseases so prevalent among the aged in our society.  In the young, I aid in building their coordination, musicality, discipline and help them to expend their energy, giving them a better, healthier and disciplined body to help in their mind studies and more.  In the teens and young adults, I can help build their aspirations, inspire them to be better people, give them avenues to mature into beautiful people, learn social skills and build relationships.  It's an awesome job when you actually step back and think about it.  It's humbling that I've been given such a position of influence, yet scary at the same time that it can seem like such a huge daunting task that is my life's calling.  (And this is where I'm glad that I have a God who guides me in all things I do)...

There is one thing that people do say to me quite often that I find frustrating...  They see that I work long hours and everyday, and think, "Wah you poor thing! You work so long hours, and everyday somemore.  Must make sure you have enough rest and have time for yourself."  They are well-meaning when they say that, but what they say is not exactly in my best interests, nor is it entirely accurate.

Yes, it is true that I clock long hours at my dance school, but this is also true of many people and their jobs: when work must be completed, we need to make an effort to finish them.  I just work slow (but I'm getting faster!).  Also, my work and play time has grey areas because they both occur in the same place, and I think this is the most misleading  part.  People can't see clearly when my work/play place and time are, because they occur in the same place, and much at the same time.

When I teach, it's play.  When I do admin stuff, it's work.  When I talk to students, it's sometimes work, sometimes play.  Admittedly, I had big problems differentiating between work and play when I first started doing this full time.  I still get confused from time to time, even now, after 10 years.  So I can't really expect others to be able to differentiate between my work and play time.  On top of that (as if it's not confusing enough), the people whom I teach and work with are also the people I spend my play time with.  It can get a tad frustrating if you let it get to you, but the benefits far outweigh the costs:

1)  I'm paid to do what I love, while others pay to do what they love.  By working in what I love, I am doing things that I enjoy most of the time.

2)  I save time and money on commuting to and fro.  Even though work and play can get confusing because they are both occurring in the same place,  one major advantage of this is that I can spend more time doing these things coz I don't have to factor in traveling time.  Many people spend 3 - 5 (or more) hours traveling from home to work to play and back home.  I don't have to do that, and as a result I can spend more productive time contributing to the things I love.  I can also concentrate all my energies to do these things, rather than worrying about rushing from one place to another.

3)  I get to work and play with the people I like, my friends!

4)  As mentioned earlier, I get to play a small role in enriching people's lives through dancing, health and more.  It's a true privilege.

5)  This one's a little bit chim, but the way we work, play and eat together, we live in a communal setting and this 'family' feeling is essential to our lives and welfare.  At times, it may seem stifling and over bearing, but I'm surrounded by people who care for me and vice versa.  We look out for each other, and even though we all have our flaws, we are a family.

By learning to give, being grateful and collaborating with one another, we can work together to do great things for our community and to help people around us, things that we cannot do as individuals.

Basic Instructor Course (BIC) - Express

This course is designed for people who cannot commit the time for a full course and can only spare the minimum amount of classes to learn to teach.

The express course requires the trainee to put in a minimum of 18 hours over 2 days to complete the course, and this is required for every dance genre.

Although we recognize the necessity for express courses, we only recommend this approach when there is no other alternative, as it is highly intensive and the body may not physically be able to take it.  It is recommended to take 3 months to complete the 50+hr dance instructor course. 

The SFDF and the Diploma in Dance and Performing course (6 months - 1 years) is a better course to take rather than the BIC, as it provides an all-rounded and in-depth focus in dance, teaching students to excel in dance and also introducing them to the dance industry and how to succeed in it.  The SFDF student takes up to 468hrs while the Diploma has 1248hrs of classes in the course.  These courses cover a lot more detail as compared to the BIC which only consist of 50hrs of classes.

Aceki Dance Teacher - Benefits

A dance teacher under Aceki has multiple benefits: we exercise for free (while we teach), we get to plan what and how we want to exercise, we have people to accompany us when we do our training.... 

A few added side benefits are making friends for life, learning how to work with people, practicing patience when you teach, and under Aceki, you can earn extra money on the side when you introduce products or events to your students and also get to take 1 hour of class for free for every hour of class you teach.

As a teacher, it takes a while to build up a new class and sometimes it may be a bit discouraging if your students don't stay with you for the long term.  I find that some students come and go, but there are some who will stay with you, because they like learning from you, and exercising with you, or you make them laugh. 

As a teacher, you can't really predict what kind of students will turn up for your class, and how long they will stay.  But so long as you can enjoy yourself in your classes, and sincerely try to give to them what they are coming down for, they would enjoy your class and bit by bit, more will return to class and also join the other classes that you teach.

It takes patience and faith to build up your classes so that many students will enjoy themselves and come back for more.  Don't give up during that process; in fact, use the times when you have few students to build up your repoire with your students individually (you can't do that with a large class and tend to loose some personal touch when you have a big class).  You can spend more time finding out about their likes and dislikes, and also use that time to pull them to parties and events that you have.  This would also get them to stay with you longer, as they make more friends and join more activities through you.

On Learning...

Teaching many students over the years, I've learned a thing or 2 about what makes students more teachable.

 
The best kinds of students a teacher could hope to get are those that are like a clean slate.  They don't have any prior opinions, they don't seem to know anything and they trust you to show them how to do it all.  Students like that are a dream come true because we don't have to spend time convincing them why they should do this rather then do that, why doing this will make you better than doing that, etc. 

For example, if I have 5 minutes with each student, I can spend that 5 minutes trying to convince the student to do Task 1 and why doing Task 1 will help them to improve, or I can spend the precious 5 minutes showing and teaching them to do Tasks 1,2 and 3.

Here is an illustration:

Teacher, "You must practice your spins everyday. Do it 3 times a day, for 5 minutes each."

Student, "Why do I have to do it?  I get so dizzy when I spin.  I'm so busy also, everyday is not possible."

Teacher (starts explaining and convincing the student to do the homework), "Spins are important in dancing.  When you first practice, you will find it hard, but if you practice everyday, you will improve and won't get so dizzy within a week or two....."

Or the conversation could go this way...

Teacher, "You must practice your spins everyday. Do it 3 times a day, for 5 minutes each."
Student, "OK i will do my best.  What else should I work on?"
Teacher (delighted in such a dedicated student replies), "Besides spinning, practice your isolations too.  After spinning, you can do body isolations for 5 - 10 minutes.  If you have more time, you can...."

If a student doesn't keep second guessing the teacher or thinks he knows better or his way is better, the teacher doesn't have to waste time thinking "How can I convince the student that my method of learning has been taught to many students, and all who followed my instructions wholeheartedly all succeeded and became good dancers?"  The teacher can then spend more of his energy to focus on how to make the student an even better dancer. 

I'm not suggesting that the student should blindly follow the teacher, but I feel that the students should not judge the teacher during the class (is what this teacher is saying better than what the other teacher taught me to do the other day?  I think that if I do it this way, it is better than what the teacher is saying now...). 

You take a class to learn.  Reserve your judgements for after the class.  During the class, learn all that you can, take all that you can from the teacher.  Even if you don't agree, put your opinions aside first.  Your teacher may have a different approach to what you are used to learning but it may produce the same or better results, but you never know it works if you don't try with an open mind.

You are there to learn, not teach the teacher or disrespect or humiliate him.  So focus your energies on learning.  If the teacher is open to it, you can share what you feel and humbly and respectfully present your opinions to him after the class.  But don't go into an argument with him in the class.

Working as a freelancer vs working in a team.

Pros & Cons:

Going outside as a freelancer gives you immediate benefits.  You can take up immediately what is on offer: like teaching with other schools, getting to choose your time and place your efforts in the things you want to do.

Working together using GGC may not seem like the best or most popular thing to do, but we can work in a group and grow together as a group.  If we have a clear idea of where we want to go and a have true goal to work towards, we have the potential to create something truly big.  We do hard honest work that slowly but steadily grow towards a larger goal.  An immediate benefit is that we don't have to bear the stress, load and burden alone.  When we stumble, we have others around us to hold on to us and to keep the boat rowing.  Even though it is harder and you need more patience (no immediate gratification), you can go further as a group, build bigger and stronger.

Compare this to building a house.  1 man can build a hut or a simple house.  It will take a couple of weeks and eventually, you can have a small hut that you can call your own.  It is simple, small and cosy, but it fits only 2 to 4 people.  A group of 7 men can organize a larger group of 30-50 men to build a large 50 storey building.  It may take 1-2 years (there is no immediate gratification) and you can't claim all the credit (you have to share it with 50 other people), but in the end, you have a 50 storey condominium with a swimming pool, gym, supermarket, garden, etc, and you can enjoy it with many friends.

One immediate downside that I see as a freelancer is that although you are free to make your own choices and decide what you want to do, most people usually don't have the experience to understand the market or the business.  They typically flit around taking whatever short term businesses they can do. 

It is rare that they would be able to plan far ahead as they would get so caught up in the little everyday things that they have no bandwidth or time to plan ahead to grow their business.  The upside to working in a GGC team is that there is a clearer picture of where we go as a group; sometimes, you don't have to plan the route or even know the whole picture (this is especially so if you are a junior in the team).  All you need to do is to trust your superior, follow instructions and you will be able to reap the benefits of the task.  And eventually when you have enough experience and expertise, you can take over the reins as leader and lead the group, but this will happen only after you prove that you have the ability to handle it and care enough to look out for everyone in the group.

Self Discipline & Care Enough

We can miss out on 99% of our blessing because we don't have the discipline or care enough to finish the things we start.  You can do everything right, persevere on through hard times but stop at the 98% mark and still not enjoy the success.  If I were to make a rocking chair, I assemble everything together bit by bit, with everything all done up except the chair seat, I could have spent many hours and days making the chair, but I still cannot use it because of that one last thing I need to put in.  I may have spent all that effort, but it would be wasted because I cannot reap the benefits of what I have made. 

There are times we all want to sleep a little bit longer, eat a little bit unhealthier, be a little bit lazier, but these things make life a lot more difficult.  Back to the chair analogy, if I had done everything, but was lazy and did not put one screw into the rocking chair, I may have an accident a few months down when my parents use the chair or a little nephew plays on it.  They may fall and injure themselves, just because I was a bit lazy and did not put enough care into finishing what I started.  I may have put a lot of love into making the rocking chair, but by deciding not to put in that screw because of my 1% lazy indulgence and assumption that it won't matter, I have caused injury or harm to others and myself.  Furthermore, nobody will trust in the rocking chairs I make in the future.

Real & Disciplined Balanced Lifestyle

Real and Disciplined Balanced Lifestyle
1.    Wake up early:  7.30am awake,   8.30am open shutter  (if not around, must have accountability)
2.    Drink 2 glasses of water  (to replenish water lost during the night)
3.    Exercise  (to get the engine running for the day)
4.    Eat Healthy  (to put the right nutrients into the body for energy and freshness )
5.    We are a support group:  ensure that we do these things together every morning  (exception for off day).
6.    Daily Work Tasks

Success to this game = acquiring great habits such that it doesn’t feel much like hard / tedious work anymore. 
Success also means more free time on our hands.  By increasing the speed of our tasks and the quality of our tasks, we have more time to pursue other things and plan for new exciting things.  We will become on top of our work and handle matters before due date;  we become proactive rather than reactive. We will be HAPPY.
By changing ourselves and our mindsets, we can attain success! =)

Normal vs Exceptional People

Routine of a Normal Person:

5am : wake up, exercise, go market

6am - 6pm : go to work, accomplish 20 work tasks

6pm - 11pm : take dance class / teach dance class, social dance, socialize

Daily Personal tasks: 25 tasks (exercise, go market, dance, socialize, cook, laundry, etc)

A regular person accomplishes 20 work tasks and about 25 personal tasks every day.

An exceptional person accomplishes more.  Exceptional people in work accomplishes 30 - 50 tasks a day at the initial stage, and progress to 100 things a day at work. 

Exceptional people then progress to become managers, senior managers and CEOs.  As they go higher up, they do lesser tasks but each task has higher points (eg, 30 - 50 points to manage a staff to do his 20 tasks which are 1 - 10 points in nature).  This gives them more free time on their hands but the problems they handle need more time, effort and heart to solve.

The way to success is to develop good habits to be able to do their required tasks everyday (and more), and to do it with a positive mindset.

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”
― Samuel Smiles

“It will be difficult to break the habits of thinking (...) instilled in me, like tugging a single thread from a complex work of embroidery. But I will find new habits, new thoughts, new rules. I will become something else.”
― Veronica Roth, Divergent

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
― Jim Ryun

“H is for Habit, winners make a habit of doing the things losers don't want to do.”
― Lucas Remmerswaal, The A-Z of 13 Habits: Inspired by Warren Buffett
“The only way we could remember would be by constant re-reading, for knowledge unused tends to drop out of mind. Knowledge used does not need to be remembered; practice forms habits and habits make memory unnecessary. The rule is nothing; the application is everything.”
― Henry Hazlitt, Thinking as a Science 

“Just do it! First you make your habits, then your habits make you!”
― Lucas Remmerswaal, The A-Z of 13 Habits: Inspired by Warren Buffett
“Good habits are the basic tools that will determine whether you are a tortoise
or hare in life!”
― Lucas Remmerswaal, 13 Habits.com the Tale of Tortoise Buffett and Trader Hare
“Habits define who we are from the outside in, more than who we are defines us from the inside out.”
― Jarod Kintz, 99 Cents For Some Nonsense
“Courage is a requirement for facing your fears, doing things differently, and applying any new habits that align with and support your goals.”
― John Manning, The Disciplined Leader: Keeping the Focus on What Really Matters
“Habits of action cultivated early in life lay the foundation for unique skill sets able to carve a path beyond the mundane and into the relevant.”
― Marian Deegan, Relevance: Matter More