PAI Concept

I'm sure some of you out there was thought of this 'PAI concept' in high school.. It only 'clicked' in my brain recently and now I've been 'working' on the practicality of it.. See, school does makes sense.. :P

The 'PAI concept' was used in Pendidikan Agama class to define iman (faith).. Don't worry, I'm not going to preach you on Islam here, I just want to share the knowledge..

PAI actually stands for Percaya dalam hati (believe in one's heart), Amal dengan anggota (act through action), Ikrar dengan lidah (pledged verbally).. It is explained that iman (faith) is only complete when these 3 conditions are met.. in other words, for example if you only say you believe in God and act like it (by praying, etc) without actually believing in it deep inside your heart, than you are not truly having faith in God..

So that is the original 'PAI concept'..

Now, my 'revolution' on this concept is.. PIA.. Percaya (believe it) --> Ikrar (say it) --> Amal (do it) in that exact sequence.. and you can use it to keep yourself motivated in reaching you goals - wether in life, studies, career or anything..

Note: I still refer to it as 'PAI' since it's more catchy and easier to remember than 'PIA' (reference: apple pie, pie chart, etc)

Let me explain through this 3 simple steps..

1. What you want (to do, to have, to be etc), first and foremost, you must truely believe it in your heart.

2. Talk about it.. be it with your friends, family, even enemies - basically anybody and everybody including yourself in front of the mirror - that you want it.. verbally not just mentally, you need to hear the words come out of your mouth and into your ears yourself.

3. Act accordingly and seize the opportunity to work in line with what you want. Don't shy away. You want it, so do it!

I'm not just being 'macam bagus je' here.. I'm sharing this because I went through life with several coincidences without realizing that I've been following this 'PAI concept' all this time..

First was my book - Antara Pen & Bola (published name Cemerlang & Menang Cara Bolasepak)
I believed deep inside that I can and would write a book on management.. Then I went on to talk about it.. I told my family and often talked about the concept of relating management with soccer.. I even wrote a short article on it and gave it to my company's training officer to read.. Few months later the opportunity came.. I saw an add via a mailing list saying that they were looking for people who were interested in writing and I responded..

The next PAI cycle came when the publisher said they wanted to publish the book by World Cup season.. I believed that I could write it within 3 months (met them in March 2006).. I had calculated the topics and number of pages with the days I had to write and I knew I could do it.. So of course I agreed and said that I will finish it on time.. I gave my commitment and worked on it.. I sacrificed my weekends and wrote until 3am at times as the ideas kept coming.. and I finished writing 108 pages before the end of May 2006..

At the same time, I had always envied my company's training officer.. I believed that could do her job, if not better! I talked about wanting to be a trainer with my wife and some of my friends.. I even went to my old high school to try out my skills and requested a few minutes time with an audience from my former form teacher.. I also took up teaching Japanese part time to further develop my skills and improve on my fear of public speaking.. yes, I was a shy kid at school and would tremble like an earthquake every time I had to come up front to talk.. :P

Now, that PAI cycle (of wanting to be a trainer, plus the book) has gotten me here.. And as of 21st March 2007, I'll be officially holding the post of Training Consultant.. :)

Dreams are ment to be chased -- just know the correct way of running so you can catch up ;)

Since now I have understood this PAI concept.. I'm not shy or afraid to say (list out) what are my next goals.. I'm also not being cocky because I know by doing this, it will keep me motivated and somewhere along the line the opportunity will come and if I didn't noticed it, one of you guys could point it out to me.. ;)

So you're reading it here first..
--> Within 2 years, I'll be on TV giving a motivation talk
--> Within 3 years, I'll earn a 5 figure salary

I better stop blonging for today and get to work on it.. hihi..