An established Malaysian Creative Practitioner who's into Art & Design, Illustrations, Flash/CSS development, Performance Arts & G1 Transformers Collector. I open doors of opportunities for many creative people. My mum always said I'm too generous to people, I can't help it because I like to heal people through affections and creativity. I like to keep it that way =)
I came across a tweet by an American writer, Richard D. Walker (who had instantly became a good virtual friend). He tweeted: "Successful people solve more problems than they create. Unsuccessful people create more problems than they solve. Which one are you?"
It makes me curious. How does one define success? How does one measure success?
My interpretation of success is very up front. Being successful does not measure by a 'stereotype' high standards of high economical status but being emotionally and physically contented.
When one person is contented followed by great maturity through great leadership and wisdom, you are successful. Even if a children who can create a science project with good result without fully depend on their teachers or parents, they are most likely a successful person because they foresee vision of success. They are in control of their success because of their will and determination. In fact, what makes a person successful is about taking responsibility and accountability to produce great result.
For example, if a fishermen who can support and manages a family, have a loving wife and capable of bringing up his children with proper education, would he already become a successful person? Yes.
If we are single, able to support our parents or family financially, have a stable career, perform charity or 'zakat' (alms), free from mountains of financial debts, have less drama in our lives, moreover surrounded by people who constantly shower us affections and encouragements, would we achieve success? Indeed, we are successful.
Furthermore, I second to what Richard had mention about 'unsuccessful people create more problems than they solve'. If one fail to comprehend being successful with the right attitude, great wisdom and a good persona, would they become unsuccessful?
What happens if you have a big house, a great career yet discontented with no one at home, a wife nor children who aren't attentive to shower you affection, to listen to you when you feel down, thus leaving you in solitude and insecurity, do we define ourselves successful?
If one person, for example, have an obnoxious attitude, threatening and demoralizing others by making their lives difficult, would that create more tension, stress and add more problems than becoming a person who can tolerate to provide a solution, would he or she define themselves as a successful person?
When I attended my Idulfitri
prayers and listening to the Khutba (sermon), I remember the khatib (imam) told
us about charity (alms) or what the Muslim called ‘Zakat’. He said “there’s no
point of performing our alms if we aren’t able to pray”, and learn the true
meaning of being contented and peaceful at the right state of mind. We often
think that we only perform zakat only during Idulfitri. Many years ago, I was
enlightened by a dear friend who I see her as a soul sister who told me that
zakat has many forms. So, I start performing my zakat regularly even in my
businesses, I put 5-10% and give it back to the poor. I used to put RM1 Ringgit
into the donation box but later few years I start to put more without being
calculative about it.
But then this very 1st
Syawal of 1433, it hit my head again to understand the meaning behind helping
others. Immediately I start to question myself, why did I help strangers yet I barely
pay attention to my own relatives who lost their husband or wife or children. Do
they have enough to survive? So I immediately go and talk to them, sending my doa and prayers, removing my own
bitterness and sadness aside and pay attention to them. I tried to listen to them and try
to be there even if it’s just for few minutes. I felt closer. Even Yong Zetty, my cousin called me and sent my encouraging greetings to keep me motivated. She was very helpful. That's all I need.
Being Grateful &
Togetherness
While praising our belief, I
see many ‘religious’ individual peculiarly rant their anger, their
temper-tantrum and whine over something so small to some point take other
people’s self-esteem away by demoralizing, harassing, condemning and blindly judge everyone around them. They
forget to compare to those who are more unfortunate. It’s no point if you check
into foursquare in churches, temples and mosques but you swear others. It
doesn’t reflect you’re better than those who don’t.
I am a strong believer in
love and affection, even if deep inside I’m still ‘inattentive’ to relationship;
I never neglected my relationship with God, my family relatives and my friends
around me despite how imperfect I am. I am so grateful that they are the source
of my strength and I will always pray for their well being and prosperity.
When it comes to
togetherness, I never wanted to feel like an outcast. Usually I initiate and take a
step to bring people together if I don’t receive one. In the family, I will always be the goofy one tried to make a fool out of myself to break tension and stress among my siblings. If they had a quarrel, I will be there to break out any argument or fight. At least.
I always believe that we
should be able to migrate to become wiser and mature, not childish when we grow
old who’s easily offended and insecure of small things in life. Having said, it’s
within our very nature to crave for acceptance. To be accept by family members,
to be accept by our friends, to be accepted by our lovers and everyone around
us. We tried to hard so that others would acknowledge us, yet when we don't get it, we become demoralize by our very own actions. So, what's the point of seeking for one's acceptance if you aren't able to accept yourself first? Our biggest enemy has always been greed. When you’re not satisfied and
seek for more. More attention, more wealth. That’s when we became mentally and emotionally
unstable because we can never satisfied. I advise others to get over our gluttony. I encourage people not to live a life in hatred and vengeance. If you're unable to clear your mind and seek serenity at a certain age, you will constantly fall and fail miserably.
Expectations
So remember, when you do
good things in life, never ever
expect you’ll be rewarded good things in return. Bring yourself closer to
humility and seek serenity. Don’t victimize yourself by saying you have bad
karma if luck is not by your side. God chose us to be stronger so that’s why we
are given many obstacles so that we will be able to endure it and understand
the path we had chosen. And lastly, forgive sincerely and forget. Don't put vengeance in you because it will lead you to a become a darker person. Find a closure, move on to a
better, beautiful path of life, take control of your life and take a glimpse back to reflect yourself so that
who you are yesterday, made you become a better person today and tomorrow.
InsyaAllah.
_ In life, we need to achieve a good balance. Doesn't mean being good, we are not open to doing bad things. Always make room for mistakes so that you learn. Life is always about learning. There's no such logic by claiming yourself with 'Been there, done that' but you're not humble enough to empty back your glass over and over again. That's why we are born imperfect. Because none of us are truly imperfect. Accept it, embrace it and inspire from it.
SLEEP EARLY AS POSSIBLE. Nothing beat stress from sleeping. A good sleep gives you a good charge the next day. If you have problem sleeping such as insomnia, drink chamomile tea or just relax your mind by resting on the bed. Don't worry what to do the next day, just get a good sleep!
EAT HEALTHILY. Have a good diet; eat more vegetables, eat fruits, eat less fat food and drink lots, and lots of water. Avoid taking too much raw food as it will welcome you to unwanted sickness such as diarrhea. And always eat on time and least one hour and a half before you go to sleep.
GET INTO THE MOOD. Find things that you like to do best and work on it, creatively. Arrange your workspace with colorful pin-ups, postcards and quotes. Music is one of the best influences to help you while working on your creative production, or simply from driving to work or a long journey back home. Don't text or tweet while driving. If you’re depressed, take a deep breath, vanquish all those negativity and refresh yourself. It’s no use holding back your negative thoughts anger and grudges.
DO A LOT OF SKETCHES. Change ideas into visual mind maps. Always bring your sketchbook or moleskin. Draw whatever you have in your mind and what you feel. But don't plagiarize other people's work and claim it yours, commercially. Be graceful, truthful and realistic.
EXERCISE REGULARLY. For me, running really helps. Always stretch yourself (fingers, arms, neck, back, etc) for 5-10 minute after finish doing your assignment at your workstation. Go to the gym or do yoga or a swim, keep your physical and heart healthy.
READ MORE. Read more design books and creative articles that can increase your understanding in developing creative ideas. When you read, you have solid and good research or subject matter to begin with. Paul Arden is a good start! Even better if you can get a copy of 'Making Ideas Happen' by Scott Belsky. There are great magazines such as Computer Arts, GOOD magazine, iDN, Monocle, Wallpaper, CUTOUT magazine and others.
BE FINANCIALLY STABLE. Cut the credit cards, eliminate the debts and spend minimal on entertainment & lifestyle. Avoid delaying any bills. Forget spending recklessly on things such as buying designer's toys, sneakers and outfits. Put 20-40% out of your salary to your savings account. Set a long-term financial plan wisely with your budget in a spreadsheet so you can track on all your expense in past, present and future. Remember, happy people usually have enough financial support in their account. If you’re about to run out of saving, work for more!
THE GOOD SON/DAUGHTER ATTITUDE. Bring your parents or family for an outing to express your appreciation for what they have done to you in the past. Getting yourself closer to your loved ones makes you become more than just a good being, it shape yourself a better person with accountability and responsibility. If you’re far away, call them to say hi. If you had trouble in the past communicating with your parents, this is the time you make up to them. Don't expect anything in return, what matters is that you remember them.
HANG OUT WITH GOOD FRIENDS. Choosing a right friend will make you learn a lot of things about yourself, even to identify your weakness or your great potential from their view. Accept criticism to make you become a better person. Like Paul Arden said, 'Do Not Seek Praise, Seek Criticism'. ;-)
SMILE. Don’t fake it or don’t smile in a weird freaky way but a simple smile. Smile makes you feel positive and it will bring others to be positive too. People who have obnoxious most likely to be a negative person will end loosing friends and imprint bad impression. Smile makes you happy, and happy makes you a contented person.
TRAVEL. Take a vacation and go to interesting places that doesn't reflect your daily routine or the same environment. Switch off your mobile, don’t check your emails. Take a nature walk, snorkeling or spa. Pamper yourself. It helps a lot.
DO CHARITY. Donate your old clothes to the donation drop-in box or visit the youth community centre or old folks home. Put 5-10% of your business profit and contribute to the poor or NGO's. Do good things in life. Don't be calculative when you donate. Don't put a penny or a dollar. Put more, pay it forward. It brings your a better person.
SEEK FORGIVENESS. Always be considerate to yourself and others. Drop that designer-diva attitude. Bring compassion to your life and your career. Be professional. Make people admire you and your charisma; don't force people to respect you by being fierce. Respect is earned and always be thankful for what you got.
READ THE NEWS! Keep yourself updated with the surroundings. Read New York Times, Good Magazine or even design portals like Behance Network, Drawn, Computer Arts Blog or FWA to get you inspired. It's not necessarily to hook yourself up the entire day with Facebook or Twitter as it could sometimes demotivate you, especially with negative expression from obnoxious and temper-tantrum individuals that would influence and distract you.
LIVE TO LEARN. Life is always about learning new things and making mistakes. Do lots of trials and errors to strengthen your work. Always expose yourself to new knowledge and design techniques, styles and what not. Develop your own unique trademark or brand that people can identify your creative work. Always think of quality over quantity. Always think long term goals to your creative productions. Most of all, accept advices and criticism. Do portfolios review among your peers or friends from the industry to see how you can improve the way you produce your creative work. Be multi-discipline.
Muid Latif is a Creative Practitioner based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is also an ambassador to Behance Malaysia, writer for Art Malaysia and CUTOUT magazine, also the founder of art collective group, Digital Malaya Project. Visit www.muidlatif.co to learn more about his work.
Note: Press keyboard CTRL+[+] (plus) to enlarge font size or [Apple]+[+] plus button.
Each person is bound to look at things in different perspective and this pretty much depends on family background, education, culture, religion and other factors that contribute to who they are today. A person who choose to confine themselves with solitary and think that the world is unfair, is actually one of the reason why civilization stop to grow with positive minds due to the attitude of 'don't bother what's around me'. Pretty much sad to see such negative upbringing with low self esteem, inferior complex, being obnoxious and prejudice over many things.
In the past and presence, I met few individuals who inspire and some who pretty much confine to their own realm. Much as I want to believe they have gone through tough times in their lives dealing with their problems, I see that there was no social engagement and interaction to help them fit themselves and create a circle of positive community, at least among their friends.
As a result, they hurt a lot of people by being too upfront about their problem, when you compare with what's going on in the world today, I shall say this does not benefit anything. There are people out there each day die of cancer, die of poverty, die due to racism and prejudism. People out there are struggling trying to live a better life, to pray for a longer life, while some choose to take risk to shorten their life by doing unhealthy things (smoke, drugs, sex, etc)
I for once, have problems of my own, it was crucial compared to those who think the world is going to end, but what I'm truly grateful. Whenever I'm lost, I have friends to help hold my shoulders and said 'it's going to be okay'.
I had recently been discovered with tumor (which is curable, insyaAllah) in my body but I did not make a huge fuzz about it. I have to take a lot of medication daily in order to sustain myself. Each day, I opt to project a better person out of me by doing so many things, so many wonderful things. I became more productive ever since I discovered my health problem. But that doesn't mean I have to give up. Sedangkan Iblis tak berhenti (don't give up) untuk membinasakan dan menjatuhkan umat manusia. Think about that!
For example, if you just came from a horrible relationship, doesn't mean you have to punish yourself and reject the affection and love from people that surrounds you. That shows how ungrateful you are, and when you have that kind of attitude, that's how karma takes place. KARMA happens when you neglect or ignore others that care for you, and when one day you crave for attention, and when give attention to someone and they don't respond to it, this is where you should look back and define your contribution in the past. When you do bad things to people, you can NEVER achieve happiness in life. never.
Remember, the law of balance is so fair, you have no idea that you actually rejected people because they won't be able to satisfy you. That's when you become a failure in engaging relationship, after meeting one person to the other because in the first place, you treated those who cared for you POORLY and u give them no attention, not even concern. You don't bother because you're practically 'done' with them.
When you treat people without care, when you neglected people who believe in you, than you had actually contract yourself of loosing your soul. What is left is just lust and temporary 'happiness' that does not benefit your own self. In fact, what you're about to do is harm yourself and others. What happen when you're 35 years old and your friends start leaving you because you don't want to change your character, your attitude? I believe some don't, and some turn into cold heart. God have mercy on them.
Start Believing, Fight For It.
Self-acceptance is important in life, it helps to shape you to be a positive person with persona and passion to inspire people. When you remove that border, that territory of yours, you starts to experience more wonderful things in life, more than you can imagine! (From left, two important love of friendship, Amin & Ashvina.)
We have to 'Pay It Forward' and can't expect good things in life to come as rapid so we can satisfied ourselves. We must do positive things in life in order to reach happiness. We have to start to LISTEN to advices. We must listen to the voices of those who are concern about you. We must also care.
So for those who choose to confine themselves, think about what are you doing to affect others. They give so much light and vibe for you, to cheer you up. At least appreciate this very moment or you will eventually end up in solitary and become hopeless.
Don't waste your precious life over the things you can't fulfill. Nothing, nothing is perfect in this world, to begin with. Be strong, have faith, have belief, start caring, start being grateful and start to learn how to appreciate things that surround you. You actually have friends who cares for you, so never push them away, never.
If you can't be a good person for your self, at least do it for the sake of your love for person that you care the most. If you ran out of option, it's never wrong to love God, because God had been given us affections more than we can ever imagine.
Pray for the ones who's you've lost. Let their soul be happy in heaven. Don't let them despair where you start loosing control over yourself. Each day, I pray for the one I've lost. I miss the late Kak Yasmin Ahmad, and I never miss a prayer and al-Fatiha for her. I want her to know that I'm justifying my life better, and want to be a lovable person who continue to inspire others. That's how she made that impact towards my life. May you rest in peace.
If you can't understand my points in this entry, then WATCH THIS VIDEO. It's a must!
There's always up and down in life, we can eventually shape ourselves better if we want to start living our life the right way. You have no idea how joyful it may be when we open our hearts and take opportunities to bring better prosper in life.
Freedom of expression through blog portrays the life of creative artist/illustrator/photographer/designer, Muid Latif, inspiring others through artworks, photos, entries, poetry and others, copyright of Muid Latif unless stated by other owners.
Posts
