Alpha Asian

I recently stumbled upon your Alpha Asian and Strength and Physique blogs. Also read a few of your articles on Bodybuilding.com . Thank you for sharing the knowledge and value.  I am also a police officer and have a lot of respect for the fact that you are able to do all these things on the side while juggling a full time career on the job. Imagine it must take a lot of dedication and persistence in the face of naysayers. You are an inspiration. Keep up the good work.  -G My Answer:  Well thanks, G.  I try to live by these words from Bruce: "Freedom discovers you the moment you lose concern  over what impression you are making or about to make." For every action you take there is going to be an equal and opposite criticism.  But you don't have to get things perfect.  You just have to get them going.  If you spend too much time thinking about a project, you'll never get it done.  Screw it.  Just do it. "You can't ...

Sometimes people ask me, "How do you find the time to do all the things that you do?" I have a job that's a little more demanding and stressful than the usual 9 to 5. My wife and I have a daughter who's quite a handful at the moment. In my spare time, I run 2 blogs, write for various exercise magazines and websites and I’ve authored a number of books. And I still find time to workout. People have dreams to accomplish something, but very few people accomplish what they dream of doing.  For example, a lot of people want to write a book, but most of these people never write one.  People use the excuse that they don’t have time. This is bullshit.  Everybody has the same 24 hours in a day.  You cannot save time.  You can only spend it.  But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.  You just have to get into a habit of taking action, of taking the first steps. Here are some my mindset tips on what Guy Kawasaki calls the “art of the start.”...

So I was talking to a former coworker at the gym, and he told me about a book he was reading called The Sociopath Next Door .  He was surprised to find out from the book that 4% of the U.S. population (1 in 25 people) are sociopaths: "We are accustomed to think of sociopaths as violent criminals, but in  The Sociopath Next Door , Harvard psychologist Martha Stout reveals that a shocking 4 percent of ordinary people—one in twenty-five—has an often undetected mental disorder, the chief symptom of which is that that person possesses no conscience. He or she has no ability whatsoever to feel shame, guilt, or remorse. One in twenty-five everyday Americans, therefore, is secretly a sociopath. They could be your colleague, your neighbor, even family. And they can do literally anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt.  1 in 25 people are sociopaths?!  Well that may explain the assholes I keep running into.   I was intrigued by this subject of sociopaths,...

In this presentation, minister Greg Hsu discusses how to lead effectively without losing who you are and how to break the bamboo ceiling .

One of my professors during grad school was Chinese American psychologist Ben Tong.   I took a few Asian American Studies courses from him, and one course that he taught was Chinese American Psychology.  Professor Tong’s course had a profound influence on me, and you will find much of this influence in my writings. The following is a composite article of three of Professor Tong’s writings: The Ghetto of the Mind (Amerasia Journal 1971) Warriors and Victims (1978) Chinese American Culture and Identity (1998) Chinese American Psychology S inologists are in general agreement that Confucian philosophy was exploited by the monarchy and scholar-official administrators as a device for social control of a numerically overwhelming peasant population in medieval China. With a vigorous revival (later known as Neo-Confucianism) in the Tang dynasty, Confucian moral philosophy was exploited as a state ideology for (a) justifying centralized rule and (b) for the...

Q:  I just finished your book (loved it by the way-- even if you gave a minor dig to dogs, my Chinese zodiac animal) and just had a few questions/comments that I felt like sharing: I totally get how Asian Americans need to let go of a lot of the guilt/shame that we put on ourselves, but how do you balance that with wanting to be a good role model/representative of our race? For example, I've always been curious about how it feels to be shit-faced drunk, but have always thought "Oh no, I wouldn't wanna be that person-- the drunken Asian dude who can't hold his liquor and is stumbling around with no control over himself". I mean, I get that in this one example, the problem is internal and I can just get over it-- but in general, I know that non-Asians will see me as some Asian dude and will stereotype our race based on my behaviors, and I'm curious what you think. Secondly, I agree that it's not good to be an Angry Asian Man (I think I...

I remember back in middle school and high school, whenever I had approach anxiety with girls, my friends ( especially the girls) would always give me the same advice: Be yourself. I don't know about you guys, but when you're a thirteen year old kid, probably one of the last things you know about is to be yourself. In my junior year of high school one of my final projects was to figure out a "career" for yourself. One of the requirements in that final was to take the MBTI test . I thought that this was such a great description of myself and as a really depressed Asian kid, I took to this like white on rice. I hear this is how cults recruit new members. I joined a now defunct forum for my specific personality type . I had a great time talking to like-minded people online and even met one of them in real life that I'm still friends with to this day. During that time, I honestly thought I was "figuring myself out". But after the the initial giddines...

Hey guys, sorry if I'm what I'm writing is really vague but it's kind of hard to think straight after 7 months of averaging about 4 hours of sleep a day. Anyways, here's a short cheesy list that I came up with while relearning the basics with my new art teacher.   1. Everything has its place in the world, relative to other things: No matter how insignificant you feel sometimes, you're a part of this god forsaken planet. You just have to figure out where, and whether or not you'll be happy where you end up. 2. Some things are more important than others. Some things will naturally take up more time, energy and space in the picture that is your life, but just because it takes up so much of your life doesn't necessarily mean that it's something you care much about. If you're not happy with it, try to focus more on that little thing you enjoy and add more detail so that no matter how much space other things take up, you'll especially enjoy that...

So last Christmas night marked the two year anniversary of my decision to get into pharmacy. My girlfriend at the time and I decided to go on a three day trip to San Francisco. We had a blast window shopping, going out to random restaurants and just enjoying each other's company. It was our last night there and we were having some of that "after-pillow fight conversation." She teases me and says "Honey, I want....two boys and two girls." And I was like "No." And she was like "Okay.. three kids." And I'm like...."No." And with a sigh, she breathes "Two." And then I sigh, cave in and go "Okay fine .... two kids." Without missing a beat, she throws up in my face and I'm like "Babe... too soon!" The next morning, I rush to the nearest pharmacy to buy some Plan B. (They don't call it "the morning after pill" for nothing.) Luckily for me, it was just the stomach flu. It was prett...

1. Retail sucks so hard it swallows . Fuck retail. 2. The waiter rule 3. People are assholes. No matter what race, there will always be some sort of bastard that will ruin your day and sometimes it feels like every customer is a dick customer. (Even though in the bottom of your heart you know it's not true.) As Dr. Cox would say "People are just bastard covered bastards with bastard filling." 4, People are stupid. See #3 5. Learn to speak and to explain things clearly: Because eventually you'll put up with a stupid person. Or an asshole. 6. You can't please everyone. Some people are never going to be happy with anything you do for them. Ever. Learn to forget about them and move on. 7. There is at least ONE super nice customer. Make small talk with some customers that are *genuinely* nice to you. Sometimes after putting up with an asshole customer you'll recognize one of them and seeing them smile back at you will help you forget about that one guy that...

I run into a lot of nice guys. And being that I'm Asian, I know a lot of nice guys who happen to be Asian. There are 2 types of nice guys: 1) Nice guys that everybody respects (nice guy alpha). 2) Nice guys that nobody respects (nice guy beta). Nice guy alphas tend to be leaders who lead with a gentle but firm touch. Their word is their bond. When they say they will do something, they do it. They are decisive and confident in their actions, because they adhere to clear moral and ethical principles. They consider all options, but they don't waffle or hesitate. They're not overly aggressive or abrasive in their style. They are gentlemen in every sense of the word. Nice guy betas are best described by this Heartless Bitch with plenty of experience with supposed nice guys: "What's wrong with Nice Guys? The biggest problem is that most Nice Guys (tm) are hideously insecure. They are so anxious to be liked and loved that they do things for other people to...