I am someone that loves to make New Year Resolution (fulfilling it is another story:>).
I have had an excellent 2014. To top it off, I have received 2 bottles of Champagne at work for 2 different events in the past 2 weeks. Thanks God – I love my Champagne :>
Continuing on the momentum (hopefully), in 2015:
1) my target for the book sale is 1,000 (2014 sales included) by Sep-10
2) concrete plan to take the book to the next step
3) taking courses related to personal development
4) write daily blogs and tweets

Have a GREAT start of the New Year Eveyone :->

Today is New Year’s Eve and let us look at some figures for the year end (it is technically the first quarter end for me as I have published my book in Sep-2014).
a) Copies of book sold = 252 (12-month target of 1,000 with 8 more months to go :>)
b) Countries where copies sold = 6 (U.K., U.S., Canada, France, Germany & China)
c) Amazon reviews received (US & UK sites) = 11
d) Blogs published = 105 (including this very one)
e) Twitter followers = 1,128 with 1,709 tweets (including retweets)

Wish you all a Happy New Year and all the best in 2015!

Far from being bitter or haboring negative feelings, I would like to share my view on how to deal with ingratitude.

Like most people (if not all), I have experienced ingratitude from others in life including not a word of thanks when treating someone for lunch or giving someone a gift.   I have 2 suggestions but am still pondering other solutions.
1) Calmly remind the recipient of your favor with confidence. For example, if the person did not say thank you to your gift, say “Btw, do you like my gift?”. If the person did not say thank you after you had paid for the meal, say “Btw, did you enjoy the meal?” No need to get upset. Stay calm and act confidently.
2) After a few such incidents of ingratitude from the same person, I suggest cutting your loss and NOT reinforcing such an unacceptable behavior. Say farewell to the person and his/her ingratitude.

I would like to use Amazon book review as an example to illustrate my point.
As a disclaimer, no hard or ill feelings intended for anyone.

Out of all the people who had told me that they would read an Amazon review after reading my book, I estimate around 40% of them actually carried it out.

How to deal with it?
1) As I mentioned in the previous blog, “let it go” after 1-2 gentle reminders. NEVER dwell on it. There are numerous reasons why the person did not do it.
2) Instead of second guessing what the reason may be, focus on the ultimate goal. If the “success rate” is 40%, then get MORE people to do it for you. For example, if you want at least 10 reviews, instead of asking 10 people, ask 25 people (for a 40% success rate).
3) Show genuine appreciation and gratitude to those who have taken the time to write a review for you. Don’t take it for granted.
4) Take it as a lesson on how to handle disappointment. Believe me – there is no shortage of that in life.

Ignoring can also be bliss in some cases (not just ignorance :>)

One important lesson that I learnt in promoting my book is to let go or ignore promises (casually or seriously) made by others on helping me when those promises are not carried out. Don’t be overcome by bitterness or hold grudges against them. Bless them and move on. After one or two gentle reminders, give the person benefit of the doubt because there are many different reasons the person did not make good his/her promise.  It would be better if the person offers an explanation. However, I suggest bless them and move on.

I will give an example of how to deal with it in my future blog.

Merry Christmas to all :>
Wish you all a wonderful time during this festive period.

I will be traveling to Canada to see my folks starting this Saturday and the blog will be put on holiday schedule. Regular publication will resume in 2015!

December can well be the busiest month of the year. Among other festive-related activities, book promotion may be put on the back burner.

Besides offering a 25% Christmas discount on my book, I have 2 other ways to promote my book.
1) Adding a promotional postcard of my book to Christmas card
2) Subtly reminding my friends and family of my book in my emails of season’s greetings

As of last Friday (12-Dec), there are 10 Amazon reviews on my book between the UK (9 reviews) and US (1 review) sites.

The average rating is 4.8 out of 5.
The highest is 5 out of 5.
The median is 5 out of 5.
The lowest is 4 out of 5.
The standard deviation is 0.42.

Another encouragement arrived last week over a coffee with a friend who finished reading my book.

He said he had already started taking a painting course that he always wanted to do in the past few years, but hesitated. He is now enjoying the course. I have not seen any of his paintings yet.  However, as I said in the book, each person is on his/her own journey at a speed suitable for him/her and the most IMPORTANT thing is having FUN and enjoying the “ride”.  Don’t let others and/or yourself discourage you!

A friend of mine who is taking an evening French class to brush up her French told me last night that my book helped her.

She followed my example of bringing a drink (non-alcoholic just for the record) to the evening class and it actually boosted her concentration in class.

Yes, it is difficult to stay alert after a long day of work, but we can find little things to help us fight the battle of “dozing off”.