It's called Mindset!

As my friend was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

"Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free." My friend was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before? How many of us refuse to attempt something new and challenging because of our so-called MINDSET?

Your attempt may fail, but never fail to make an attempt......
&
CHOOSE not to accept false boundaries and limitations created by the past.....

Something2Share:

I had come across some executives and staff in plantation management having mindset fixed with negative thinking formed by previous experience. Just like the chained elephants, their minds had been conditioned in such a way that they were stuck right where they were. “Last time we did like this also no problem what. Why change?” For years they had been running on the same spot and were just contented to remain as a Plantation Manager, an Assistant Manager or even a Field Conductor, as if there was no opportunity for personal growth and no chance for career advancement.

I used to encourage my subordinate to change their mindset from negative to positive and from passive to proactive; otherwise their performance would only be average even with the best estate practices, methods and tools. I told them,” Being average is either ‘the worst of the best’ or ‘best of the worst’. There is nothing to shout about being an average person.”

An average person having a fixed mindset is just like a “square”, resting on one surface and cannot move at all. On the other hand, a person having a growth mindset views past mistake or failure as a new challenge and takes it as a chance to improve himself. He will roll like a “ball” as and when he learns from his previous experience and moves on through hard work with a stronger willpower.

Do not fear failure and let the past mistakes bother you. As long as you keep on trying and insist on finding a way out to every problem, then you are able to perform much better than the last time.

Any planter having such a right mindset will surely perform well and with improved productivity he will eventually gain his promotion in his company.

Click on www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nh49a8q2E4 and enjoy "Baby Elephant Walk" in YouTube.

Lower crude palm oil price forecast

KUALA LUMPUR: Crude palm oil (CPO) looks set to trade between RM1,500 and RM2,100 per tonne in the second half of this year, according to top international palm oil players.

They made the forecast at the end of the 20th Palm and Lauric Oils Conference/Exhibition 2009 (POC 2009) here yesterday.

The more subdued price forecasts, made by London-based LMC International Ltd chairman Dr James Fry and Godrej International Ltd director Dorab E. Mistry, took into account shrinking demand this year due to the global economic crisis.

But OilWorld executive director Thomas Mielke was slightly more upbeat, making a forecast of between RM2,000 and RM2,060 per tonne.

Fry said the local CPO futures were set for a soft landing by the middle of this year.

“CPO prices can fall back to RM1,500 per tonne following slower demand and lower crude oil prices,” he said. “I’m more bearish in view of the gravity of the deep recession, and I fear crude oil prices will fall further and if so, CPO will also follow suit.”

Mistry agreed that CPO prices could come under pressure by the second half of the year due to a strong pick-up in both palm oil and soybean oil production as well as weaker demand.

“The CPO price range from now to October will see a downward trend from RM2,000 to RM1,500 per tonne,” he reckoned.

But Mistry said he expected CPO futures on Bursa Derivatives Exchange to cross RM2,000 and “might briefly challenge at best RM2,100 per tonne” over the next few weeks.

Palm oil stocks in the next few months would tighten and “this will likely help palm oil prices,” he said.

Malaysian Palm Oil Board on Wednesday released its latest figures for February which indicated a further drop in palm oil stocks to 1.56 million tonnes from 1.83 million tonnes in January.

At POC 2008, industry players had made bullish projections of RM2,800 to RM4,500 per tonne for 2009.

Mistry, who had forecast that CPO could hit as high as RM4,500 per tonne by February this year during POC 2008, admitted he was too optimistic last year.

On a more positive note, Fry noted that “the prices of fertilisers have also gone down. This spells good news for oil palm planters as the fertiliser cost represents about 60% of their production cost.”

He expects the more efficient planters to still make a profit even if CPO prices drop to RM1,400-RM1,500 per tonne due to the lower fertiliser prices.

Mielke of OilWorld said via teleconferencing from Germany that globally, there could be increasing demand for palm oil, especially for food, this year.

He estimated that palm oil would account for about 56% of exports among 17 types of the world’s vegetable oils and fats from September 2008 to October 2009.

Mielke is optimistic that demand for global vegetable oils both for food and non-food items will exceed production this year.

Something2Share:

What goes up will come down and what comes down will go up. This is a repeated cycle but what matters most is the Time Factor: When? Hong soon? For how long?

It appears that the bullish projections of CPO prices in POC2008 have become bearish projections in POC2009 because of global economic crisis, as if there will not be bright price outlook this year.

We have to wait and see, and hope for the best for global economic recovery.

Thousands Of Plantation Vacancies, No Takers

Despite more than 3,000 vacancies in the plantation sector, there are no takers, Malaysian Agricultural Plantation Association (MAPA) executive director Mohamad Audong disclosed today.

He said MAPA had made provisions to give priority to retrenched local workers to fill the vacancies, but so far, there were no applicants.

Mohamad said Malaysians should change their mindset as working in plantations was a very lucrative alternative as the perks and salaries were also attractive.

The lowest category of worker, that is, general worker, was paid a clean monthly wage of RM600.

For skilled and semi-skilled workers, the pay would vary from RM2,000 to RM3,000 a month.

Besides this, the workers are provided with free housing, transportation, electricity and water.

They are also entitled to medical benefits, Socso coverage and Employees Provident Fund contributions.

Mohamad said that the 400 MAPA member estates were employing a total of 125,000 workers and almost half of them were foreigners.

“However, in line with government policy, we are reducing our dependence on foreigners,” he explained.

He hoped retrenched Malaysians would consider working in the plantations and help realise the government’s policy.

On the ongoing negotiations with the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW), he said MAPA was reviewing its collective agreement with the union for the benefit of members who were oil palm harvesters and mill workers.

The NUPW, the country’s oldest union, represents 40,000 local and foreign workers in the plantation sector.

Something2Share:

This is not surprising. For the past 30 years, plantations have been mainly dependent on foreign workers, majority of them are Indonesian workers, beside Thai and Bangladashi workers. The Malaysians especially the younger generation are not interested to work in plantations located far from towns.

Yes. Plantations provide free housing, electricity and water but there have been cases only the older men are working in the estates, whereas thier wives and children are working in factories in nearby towns.

How to change the mindset of the retrenched Malaysian workers remains a BIG question for Plantation companies, MAPA and NUPW to crack their heads.