Tag: dailyprompt-1807

The Difference Between Being Busy and Building Something That Lasts

I have asked myself this question more times than I care to admit.

Why am I so busy, yet some days it feels like nothing truly moved forward?

There were periods in my life when my calendar was full, my inbox overflowing, my phone buzzing nonstop. Meetings stacked on meetings. Slides prepared. Emails replied. Deadlines chased. I went home tired. Sometimes proud. Sometimes just numb.

And yet, deep down, something felt off.

Busy, yes. But was I building anything that would still matter a year from now? Five years from now?

That question changed how I work, how I decide, and how I say no.

This is not an article against hard work. I believe deeply in effort, discipline, and showing up even when it is uncomfortable. But there is a subtle trap many of us fall into, especially founders, leaders, and builders.

We confuse motion with progress.

Busy Feels Productive. Building Often Feels Slow.

Being busy gives instant feedback.

You reply to an email, it disappears from your inbox. You attend a meeting, you check it off your calendar. You fix a small issue, you feel useful. There is a small hit of satisfaction. Almost addictive.

Building something that lasts is different.

It is quiet. Often lonely. Sometimes boring. There are long stretches where no one claps. No one notices. No one even knows what you are doing.

I remember days when I questioned myself.

Why am I spending hours refining a system that only a handful of users see today?
Why am I writing articles that do not get many likes?
Why am I investing time in documentation, processes, and foundations instead of chasing quick wins?

Busy work would have given me faster validation. Building required patience.

The Illusion of Progress

One of the most dangerous things about being busy is how convincing it feels.

You can spend an entire week reacting.

Responding to messages. Joining calls. Fixing urgent issues. Saying yes because it feels responsible. By Friday, you are exhausted, yet if someone asked, “What changed because of your work this week?” the answer might be unclear.

I have lived that cycle.

It feels responsible. It looks professional. It impresses people around you. But it rarely compounds.

Building something that lasts forces a different question.

If I stop doing this today, will anything break tomorrow?
If I stop doing this for a month, will anything truly be lost?

If the answer is no, then perhaps it was just noise.

Builders Think in Foundations, Not Firefighting

Firefighting makes you look important.

Foundations make you invisible.

When you are constantly solving minor problems manually, people come to depend on you. That feels good for the ego. It feels like you matter. But it also means the system is weak.

I learned this the hard way.

There were moments when everything depended on me. Decisions, approvals, fixes, explanations. If I took a day off, things slowed down. If I went quiet, people panicked.

That is not leadership. That is fragility.

Building something that lasts means working on things that reduce dependency on you.

Clear processes.
Simple architecture.
Repeatable methods.
Documentation that outlives memory.
Teams that can decide without waiting for permission.

Ironically, when you do this well, people may think you are less busy.

That is a good sign.

Busy Work Is Loud. Real Progress Is Often Silent.

Social media does not help.

We see people announcing milestones, launches, and achievements. It creates pressure to always appear active, visible, and moving fast.

But many of the most important decisions I made were invisible.

Choosing not to chase specific markets.
Choosing not to overpromise.
Choosing to say no to partnerships that looked attractive but felt wrong.
Choosing to slow down and fix fundamentals instead of scaling prematurely.

No post went viral for those decisions. No applause followed.

Yet years later, those quiet choices mattered more than many of the loud wins.

I reminded myself often, “Noise fades. Structure stays.”

The Long Game Requires Boredom Tolerance

This may sound strange, but building something that lasts requires the ability to tolerate boredom.

Not excitement. Not adrenaline. Boredom.

Reviewing the same assumptions again and again.
Improving a product by small percentages.
Writing and rewriting until clarity emerges.
Teaching the same concepts repeatedly until others truly get it.

Busy people chase novelty.
Builders chase consistency.

I have rewritten the same ideas across talks, articles, and discussions countless times. Not because I lack new ideas, but because clarity takes repetition.

The world rewards novelty. Reality rewards reliability.

Being Busy Makes You Reactive. Building Makes You Intentional.

When you are busy, your day is shaped by others.

Other people’s requests.
Other people’s timelines.
Other people’s urgency.

When you are building, you reclaim your agency.

You decide what deserves time.
You decide what can wait.
You decide what does not matter, even if it feels urgent.

This is uncomfortable at first.

Saying no feels rude.
Delaying responses feels risky.
Working on things without immediate payoff feels irresponsible.

But over time, you realise something important.

Urgent is not the same as important.
Fast is not the same as far.
Busy is not the same as meaningful.

What Lasts Is Often Unsexy

Let me be honest.

Scalable architecture is not sexy.
Good governance is not trendy.
Testing edge cases is not glamorous.
Writing documentation is not exciting.

But these are the things that survive stress.

When systems scale.
When people leave.
When markets shift.
When crises hit.

Busy work collapses under pressure.
Well built foundations hold.

I have seen projects fail not because the idea was bad, but because the basics were ignored. Everyone was busy. No one was building.

A Simple Test I Use Now

Over time, I developed a simple habit.

At the end of the day, I ask myself one question.

Did I spend today maintaining motion, or strengthening the foundation?

Some days, firefighting is unavoidable. Reality does not disappear because we want to build quietly. But if every day becomes reactive, something is wrong.

Building something that lasts means deliberately carving out time for deep work, even when it feels less urgent than the noise around you.

Patience Is a Strategy, Not a Personality Trait

People often describe patience as a personality trait. I disagree.

Patience is a decision.

It is choosing delayed outcomes over immediate validation.
It is choosing structure over applause.
It is choosing to grow roots before branches.

I was not born patient. I learned patience because the alternative was exhaustion without progress.

I told myself once, “I would rather be underestimated today than irrelevant tomorrow.”

The Quiet Satisfaction of Building

Here is the part people do not talk about enough.

Building something that lasts brings a different kind of satisfaction.

It is quieter.
Deeper.
More personal.

It shows up when someone uses what you built without needing you.
When systems run without drama.
When new people onboard smoothly.
When growth feels earned, not forced.

No fireworks. Just stability.

And in a world obsessed with speed, stability is a rare achievement.

Final Thought

If you are feeling constantly busy but strangely unfulfilled, pause.

Not to quit.
Not to escape.
But to reflect.

Ask yourself whether your effort is compounding or evaporating.

Being busy can fill your days.
Building something that lasts can shape your life.

Both require work.
Only one leaves a legacy.

I would love to hear from you.

Where do you find yourself right now, busy or building?
Share your thoughts in the comments.

Book Review by a Young Founder: How The Favoriot Way Sparked New Fire in Me

I picked up The Favoriot Way: A Life Built on Curiosity and Courage by Mazlan Abbas at a time when I felt stuck between ambition and uncertainty. The title alone sounded like something a seasoned founder might write after years of success. What I didn’t expect was how personal, honest, and relatable this book would feel from the very first page.

Right away, I could sense this wasn’t a typical business book full of polished charts and bright promises about overnight success. It felt like sitting down with someone a few steps ahead of me on a road I’m still trying to map out. I could almost hear his voice explaining how curiosity pushed him forward in ways no strategy ever could.

Curiosity as a Compass

What hit me first was how Mazlan traced his journey back to childhood curiosity, fiddling with broken radios, wanting to know how things worked. It made me reflect on my own early curiosities. For me, it was taking apart gadgets as a kid, even though I rarely put them back together. Reading that made me laugh and nod at the same time.

As a young entrepreneur, it’s easy to look at seasoned founders and assume they had some secret formula from the start. This book reminded me that the real engine behind growth is simple curiosity showing up with questions and staying with them even when answers aren’t obvious.

Real Talk About Real Challenges

The book moves through Mazlan’s life from student days to corporate leadership and into entrepreneurship with Favoriot. But it doesn’t boast or brag. What stood out most were the honest moments where he wasn’t sure what came next. That was refreshing. I often worry that not knowing the next step means I’m failing. Reading about someone I respect being uncertain and still moving forward felt like a permission slip.

There was one part where he talked about choosing entrepreneurship at an age when many people are thinking about stability. That hit me hard. I’ve always wondered if my dreams make sense in the real world. His reflections made me rethink that fear and see it as part of the journey, not a detour.

Lessons That Feel Personal

What I appreciated most about this book is that it doesn’t give you a checklist of things to do. There are no fluff headlines about “10 steps to success.” Instead, Mazlan shares what he learned about being patient, thinking clearly, and trusting that consistent effort compounds over time. As someone building something from scratch, that perspective felt grounding.

I highlighted lines about:

  • Taking time to think clearly
  • Putting curiosity ahead of shortcuts
  • Treating failure not as a dead end but as data

Every time I paused on a passage, I found myself thinking “Yes, that’s exactly how it feels.” It was like someone had put into words things I’d been feeling but couldn’t articulate.

Accessible and Encouraging

The writing style is simple but powerful. Some moments felt like candid conversations instead of formal text. If you’re like me, juggling ideas and doubts, this tone makes the content feel accessible and encouraging rather than intimidating.

I’ve read business books that left me motivated for a day, only to be forgotten. This one stayed with me at the end of each chapter. It made me reflect on why I’m building what I’m building and how I want to show up for it.

Why This Book Matters for Young Founders

As someone forging my own path, I didn’t need another blueprint. What I needed was perspective. Someone to remind me that uncertainty isn’t a flaw, but part of the startup journey. Someone to say that curiosity will keep me going long after hype fades.

The Favoriot Way gave me that.

It’s short, easy to read, and packed with real insights that feel like they came from lived experience. Whether you are just starting a venture or trying to find clarity in your direction, this book gives you something many other business books don’t: emotional resonance with your struggles.

Final Thoughts

Reading this book felt like a conversation with a mentor who doesn’t sugarcoat but still believes in your potential. For young entrepreneurs like me who sometimes doubt whether we’re on the right track, this was precisely the kind of perspective we need.

It doesn’t tell you what your next move should be. It gives you the confidence to make that move yourself.

If you’re chasing ideas, navigating doubt, or building something that matters to you, The Favoriot Way deserves a spot in your reading list.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

And if you’ve read it too, I’d love to hear which part spoke to you most. Drop a comment and let’s talk about it.

[Book review: A Young Entrepreneur in the Making]

Download eBooks from Mazlan Abbas

  1. Favoriot – The Journey of an IoT Startup
  2. The Favoriot Way – Life of Curiosity and Courage
  3. Hello IoT
  4. Mastering IoT with Favoriot: A Comprehensive Guide for Business and Educational Institutions
  5. Internet of Things (IoT): A Beginner’s Guide
  6. Startup Survival: The Journey of a Tech Entrepreneur
  7. Your IoT Journey
  8. IoT Notes

The Hidden Weight of Being the One Who Must Decide

There is a weight that comes with being the final decision-maker.

Not the glamorous kind people imagine.
The quiet kind.

Decisions that affect people’s time.
Their income.
Their confidence.

You learn that delay is sometimes a decision. So is saying no. So is choosing not to chase something shiny.

The doodle character stands still here. Hands by the side. No drama. Just responsibility.

This weight never disappears.
You simply learn how to carry it better.

Favoriot’s Journey: Lessons from Lord of the Rings

The journey of Favoriot, from its earliest days to where it stands today, mirrors The Lord of the Rings Trilogy in a way that feels less like fantasy and more like lived experience.

Not because of epic battles or dramatic villains, but because both stories are really about endurance, pivots, and choosing to continue when the original plan no longer fits the road ahead.

A Journey That Did Not Start With a Grand Map

When Frodo left the Shire, there was no detailed map to Mount Doom. Gandalf did not hand him a ten-year plan. The mission evolved as dangers revealed themselves.

Favoriot began the same way.

The early vision was simple. Build an IoT platform that works. One that local engineers, researchers, and institutions could rely on. What came next was not a straight line. The platform did not arrive fully formed. It grew through experiments, false starts, and product decisions that looked right at the time but later needed rethinking.

Like Middle-earth, the terrain kept changing.

Products as Paths, Not Destinations

In The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship does not walk a single road. They split. They detour. Some paths fail. Others reveal their purpose much later.

Favoriot’s products followed the same rhythm.

Early versions focused heavily on basic device connectivity and dashboards. That was the Shire phase. Simple. Familiar. Necessary.

As real customers arrived, the needs shifted. Monitoring alone was not enough. Scale introduced complexity. Rules became more complicated to manage. Alerts became noisy. What worked for a pilot did not hold up in production.

That forced pivots.

  • From simple dashboards to structured data models
  • From manual rules to more intelligent behaviour detection
  • From pure IoT to AI-assisted decision support
  • From cloud-only thinking to edge-aware architectures

Each pivot felt like leaving a known path and stepping into uncertainty. Some features were retired quietly. Others were reshaped instead of discarded. Just as characters outgrow their early roles, products evolve because the journey demands it.

The Cost of Carrying Too Much

Frodo’s burden was not the distance. It was the Ring.

For Favoriot, the “Ring” often took the form of technical debt, early assumptions, and customer expectations set too soon. Decisions made for speed later demanded patience to untangle. Features built for one market created friction in another. Supporting early users while reworking the core tested both systems and people.

Letting go was hard.

Just as Frodo struggled to release the Ring, teams struggle to let go of products they worked hard to build. Yet progress required accepting that not everything belongs in the final version.

Splitting the Fellowship to Survive

The Fellowship did not stay together because it looked nice. It split because survival required it.

Favoriot’s journey did the same. Engineering focused on stability, while product teams listened closely to users. Business teams dealt with timing, cash flow, and long sales cycles. Partnerships opened doors while internal teams strengthened the foundation.

At times, it felt fragmented. In reality, it was a focus.

Each group carried a different part of the burden. No single team saw the whole picture at all times. Trust became the glue.

Long Stretches Without Applause

Middle-earth did not pause to celebrate milestones. Neither did the market.

There were long periods where progress was invisible from the outside. No launches. No announcements. Just refactoring, rewriting, rebuilding. Customers rarely see this phase, yet it defines whether a platform survives.

Favoriot lived in this space for years.

Quiet work. Fewer shortcuts. Many trade-offs. The kind of progress that feels slow until one day it becomes evident that the platform is stronger, calmer, and more reliable than before.

When the Mission Changes the People

By the end of the trilogy, Frodo was not chasing adventure. He was carrying wisdom earned through pain and persistence.

Favoriot’s journey shaped its people the same way.

Engineers learned restraint, not just speed. Product teams learned when to say no. Leaders learned that timing matters as much as vision. The company knew that building trust outlasts chasing trends.

The platform today is not just more capable; it is also more capable. It is more deliberate.

Not Glory, But Completion

Destroying the Ring was not a victory parade. It was relief. Completion.

Favoriot’s goal has never been to build everything or to shout the loudest. It has been to finish what was started. A platform that can grow with its users. A system that learns instead of overwhelming. A foundation that can support the next chapter without collapsing under its own weight.

That goal shaped every pivot.

The Quiet Parallel

Frodo was not the strongest.
Favoriot did not have the most significant budget.
Neither took the shortest route.

Yet both stories prove the same point.

Lasting impact rarely comes from perfect plans. It comes from adjusting without losing purpose, letting go without giving up, and continuing to walk when turning back feels easier.

That is the shared truth between Middle-earth and Favoriot’s journey.
A long road.
Many pivots.
One mission that refused to be abandoned.

My Powerpoint Slides Get Corrupted Just Before My Presentation and This Is What I Did

After preparing presentation slides for several days to give a lecture to Uniten students yesterday, I found that the slides had become corrupted.

Many slides were missing information! This happened just as I had connected my computer and projected it onto the screen.

I remembered that when I was about to shut down my computer before heading to Uniten yesterday afternoon, the PowerPoint software warned me that there was an issue with saving the file.

Perhaps it was because I changed the folder name while making the slides. But I continued to save it with a different name without suspecting anything.

Back to my story in front of the students, I had to quickly search for old slides I had previously used.

I combined two presentation files. Therefore, I had to open and present them separately.

However, some of the new slides could not be shown because they were corrupted.

Thankfully, the presentation yesterday still went well, although I lost a few points that I couldn’t convey.

That’s a brief story of my first presentation or lecture experience in the new year 2024.