Today concludes my ‘book tour’ in Hong Kong and I will be on a red-eye flight back to Europe tonight.

Hong Kong is an even busier city than London. The hustle and bustle of life can be quite challenging even for someone who was born and raised here. My book, short of 70 pages in a concise manner, is of perfect length for city-dwellers that don’t have much patience nor ‘luxury’ for time-wasters.

A friend of mine told me that his daughter is having difficulties adjusting to the first year of university. I recalled similar experience during my time and it did take me a bit of time before I started enjoying my university life.
In retrospect, I think the awareness and psychological preparation are crucial. Like most transitions in life, if we anticipate and prepare for it both psychologically and practically, it will go more smoothly. Monitoring and reviewing the progress can also be extremely helpful. ‘Oddly’ enough but not so surprisingly, it goes back to the basic framework of my book (psychological and practical aspects).

Wish I knew and applied it earlier in life. Better late than never!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Special thanks to those who have given me support, help, advice and feedback in various ways for the publication, sales and marketing of my book in 2014.

I feel very blessed and have learned a great deal 🙂

I had lunch with a high school classmate who is taking some time off from work at the moment.  He told me that he was quite inspired by my book publication (he has not read it yet, hopefully soon) and he is contemplating on writing one himself.

I asked him what the type and subject of his future book are. He replied that the type is something similar to those who have won the Nobel Prize in literature (There are two Chinese that have accomplished that so far).  He added Hong Kong is going through a special period in the Asian history and it may be a good topic.

Well – it would be really something if I inspired a Nobel Literature Laureate!

Today I had coffee with a friend of mine who had started his own business a year ago. He said the negative feedback was the most valuable advice he received. As tough as it is, it may be the honest truth that one needs to hear.

A word of caution as mentioned  in my book:  We, as recipients of those negative feedback, should remain objective, learn from it and turn it into positive energy.

From one figure to another, today I would like to report the total sales figure of my book has passed 200 copies!  Even though it was not entirely unexpected before my trip to Hong Kong, I am happy that it has been realized. That is 20% of my 12-month sales target of 1,000 copies.

I am referring to the total number of Twitter followers to date.  I promised some of my readers to share my experience on Twitter with others if it reached 1,000.

1) Identify your target group and follow the key figures in that group.  A special thank to my executive assistant/friend Gary for his research.

2) Start following other people, preferably within the same interest group.  As a courtesy, I estimate around 15% of the people will follow you back.

3) Stay active – retweet or tweet regularly, at least daily. Discipline is required here.

4) There are a few psychological milestones in terms of  number of followers. To me, they are 100, 500 and 1,000 so far.  People are more inclined to follow you back if you have a credible number of followers.  You will see momentum pick up once those milestones are reached.

Today marked the mid-point of my two weeks trip in Hong Kong.  This morning I did a more thorough inventory and realized that the 64 copies had been ALL allocated (either as gifts and sales).  It was a surprise on the upside.  I actually have more support from my friends and family than I expected.

I will have to order another batch getting ready for Christmas!

During my “food-and-drink” tour in Hong Kong, 2 colleagues of mine who had read my book told me that I should have included more personal examples in the book.  They think it would be more unique and interesting (perhaps they meant amusing!)

Noted 🙂

We don’t need to stay physically active to remain engaged and effective. To achieve our goal, sometimes it is better to take a step back and reflect than behaving like a chicken with no head.
For example, during my first aid training last month, as a scenario practice, the instructor split 10 of us into 2 groups, first aider and causality groups. I was one of the 5 people in the first aider group. The scenario was that the 5 causalities somehow stacked up against each other. After the practice, the instructor said that the first aider group made a common mistake of NOT calling the ambulance while everyone was frantically trying to help. In addition, there was no planning on how the causalities should be rescued. The instructor said it would be wiser if we assessed the situation first and planned accordingly.

A lesson learned and it is well summarized as “Buy time – but don’t postpone forever. Think, research, mull, then go for it.” in the book Sort Your Brain Out by Dr. Jack Lewis & Adrian Webster.