It’s been nearly 10 months since I released my last mixtape, and over half a year since I performed live, and I’ve been itching to start dj’ing live again.  Checkout my just released mixtape (to Save the MP3, right-click on the red link and “save-as”).  I’m a little rusty, so please cut me some slack, although I would appreciate your feedback and comments, after listening.

01 Return of the Chef by DJIronChef

Sometimes we’re so busy being busy, that we forget to take time for ourselves and engage in our true passions.  I always find that I get my best ideas when I’m doing something fun and relaxing.  Furthermore, it’s the best feeling in the world when you can lose yourself completely in whatever you’re doing, and just let your instinctual creative capacities to take over - I call this “flow”.

When was the last time you experienced a “state of flow”?  Can you recall what activity you were engaged in?  Maybe it’s time to revisit the activities that make you happy.  If you want to live a life that fulfills you, then you need to know, in each part of your life, which are the specific moments that really renew your energy and bring you joy, and go after them.

The long awaited goal of performing 100 consecutive good-form pushups finally became a reality on Monday, Jan. 18.  After eight grueling weeks of staying focused and disciplined on following the “100 Consecutive Pushups Program”, the result was really a pleasant surprise, and just confirms my belief that small daily improvements over time, can lead to stunning results.  Aristotle similarly states, “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.”

Following the program however, did not come without speed bumps and impediments.  The first time I attempted this with my buddy, Roger Q., in Hong Kong last year, despite the fact that we kept each other accountable, we gave up somewhere around Week 5 of the program, citing elbow soreness as an excuse.  That experience left a sour taste in my mouth, and I was determined this time, more than ever to get over the hump, and despite how incredibly focused I was, I suffered yet, another let down around the beginning of Week 5, allowing work and other obligations take priority, and relegating my pushups to the backseat.

Fortunately, I recommitted and doubled my efforts to get back on track after a two week hiatus.  In addition to redoing the pushups in Week 5 and continuing towards the finish line in Week 6, I made the challenge even more difficult, by forcing myself to do 100 pushups per day - two sets of 50 consecutive pushups.  After 8 weeks and 4,377 pushups later, I was pumped up to take the ultimate test of performing 100 consecutive good form pushups.  My brother, Jordan, was witness to the feat, and I have to give him props for taking the creative open-shutter photograph above.  The experience felt surreal - my arms wanted to give way after 80, and each pushup thereafter, exacerbated the feeling of my chest exploding, my knees started shaking around 85, and at 90, my head was throbbing violently, and I wanted to call it quits, but I just focused on one-pushup at a time, and was steadfastly certain that I would make it, as I kept envisioning the number, “100″ in my head, and sure enough, I collapsed after “100″, and face-planted on the carpeted bedroom - my arms were lifeless and jello-like, but I was in sheer joy.

The Japanese have a word for the concept of never ending improvement, “kaizen”.  Whether it’s your respective career, a new skill you would like to develop or a new hobby, growth, progress and ultimate success come to those who train and keep training.  So in 2010, what are you training for?

I was clueless about what to take a picture of today, despite the fact that I had a full day, and drove everywhere.  That’s when I decided to rummage through my old record collection, when I realized that I had a pretty decent collection of Frank Sinatra records. When I visited Brooklyn this past December, I learned that the famous Grimaldi’s Pizzeria (http://www.grimaldis.com/) never delivers to anyone, the exception being Mr. Sinatra - if he was in Manhattan doing a show, his pizza would be delivered to him pronto.

By Jason Yeh

My attempt at having a Zen-like work space

Did you look back at 2009, and wonder where it all went or how fast it had flown by?  Do you remember the key events in 2009 that made that year spectacular?  Wouldn’t it be great if you could just flip through a photo-album of 365 pictures, which encapsulates your 2009 via visual imagery?

It’s been a long while since my last post, and I thought I’d stir things up a little bit by introducing a new project that I’ve been having a lot of fun with - “Project 365″.  Essentially, I take one picture a day, of whatever happens to inspire, bewilder, or interest me.  The goal is to chronicle an entire year through pictures and take 365 consecutive photos.  To keep me motivated, I’m going to develop a photo album for each completed month, which will serve as monthly milestones.  Hopefully through this process, I’ll learn to look at the world through a different lens, and notice things that I’ve failed to appreciate, as well as vastly improve my photography skills.

We live in such a fast-paced world, that we often forget what is truly beautiful or important, even if it’s right in front of us.  Whether it’s a plant on your workspace, your cat or dog, the drive down to work, the walk around your school or neighborhood, your family, or significant other, do we take the time to really stop and appreciate all that is good around us?  Even though it is cliche, how often do we really ask ourselves, “what am I grateful for?”  Who are the people in my life that I love and love me?  Is it really possible to see the beauty of people and things around us without a pause button in life?  Whether or not it is possible, I hope that with “Project 365″, that my camera can help me wield this godly power to pause the events in my life, so that I can truly see and appreciate people and things for who and what they are.  Just food for thought, but maybe we would all be happier if we took a minute each day, to pause our own world.

Thank you to my friends, shout-outs to Sharon Zhen, who inspired me to take on this project, and Ginger Lau for encouraging me and giving me the idea to start blogging again.

Follow along on my daily pictorial journey by visiting my Project 365 page.

Visit www.djironchef.com/mixtape to download my latest Mixtape and get the inside scoop on my new up-and-coming guest-DJs, DJ Shao Long Bao and DJ Q.

Thought I’d share a map of where I’ve been around the world.  Please let me know if you intend on traveling to any of these locations, and I’ll be happy to give you an overview of my experience and recommend what to check out.

• Create your own travel map or travel blog
• Travel Info at TripAdvisor

What 5 Things Need to Happen to Make 2009 Your Best Year Ever?

An idea, popularized by Life Coach, Robin Sharma, your BIG 5 is simply, the 5 things that need to happen within these 12 months, for 2009 to be the “Best Year of Your Life”, whether its professionally, socially, physically or spiritually.

Watch Sharma’s video below and then write down your BIG 5 on a piece of paper, where you can review it everyday.  Better yet, post it on your bathroom mirror on a 3×5 card and tell all your friends and colleagues about it.  We all need a little encouragement and accountability in our lives because studies have shown that most of us fail to follow-through with our New Year’s Resolution and start to give up after January.

To get things started, I’ll start off by publicly sharing my BIG 5 for 2009:

1. [DJ] I will produce 1 DJ Mixtape per month and share it to my friends - click HERE to download January’s mixtape
2. [6am Club] I will wake up at 6am everyday and join the 6am club]
3. [Travel] I will visit at least 3 of the following destinations this year (Philippines, Laos, Egypt, Spain, Hainan Dao (China), Mongolia, Tibet, Australia)
4. [Business] Launch a start-up with my siblings (in progress), called Furniture For Change (stay tuned, I will write more about it later)
5. [GMAT] Prepare myself for the GMATs and score at least a 650

Feel free comment on this post below or leave your BIG 5 for all to see.  So what is Your BIG 5?

Find more videos like this on Robin Sharma’s The Monthly Coach

RT @FreelanceFolder: 15 Websites To Sharpen Your Business Skills

Incredible compilation of business blogs and websites, definitely deserving of daily reading.

Thank you for 80 Visitors & over 300 Page Views - WOW

It hasn’t even been a week since I launched my website here, but the response has been incredible, appreciate the feedback and comments about the mixtape. I’m having some difficulty setting up the comments log, whereby you can leave a post without actually logging in - I’m going to work on getting this fixed. In the future, I’d prefer if comments are left directly on the mixtape page.

I also fixed the linking problem in my “Gallery”, the logos of the clubs I spin at, now correspond and link properly to their respective galleries.

Also, checkout my new page - Videos, added a great video there of my buddy, DJ Kenny - shot during our freestyle recording session, along with Lawrence Yeo, aka Trebles & Blues.

I’m leaving for Jakarta, Indonesia today - pray that I don’t get Dengue.