Alert! Unique individuals are getting extinct!
19.1.09
I told a group of friends a few months ago that the recession is the best thing that could happen to them. No, I haven't gone mad - not yet anyway. The recession is the best thing to happen to ALL of us because it gives us a good reason to ask the difficult questions about what we need and want in life, and where our life is heading. The end result is that we look deep within ourselves to understand who we are and why we're here on Earth!
Once we understand ourselves more (not completely of course, that's a life-long search isn't it!) we start our "rebirth" to become a unique person again with a unique goal in life, a unique purpose in life, a unique perspective of life, a unique solution to any challenge we face, and all the time using our unique talents to do what we want to do.
Just a minute here. I'm sure when I say unique, many of you get this image of radical and different solutions, and truly creative and never-heard-of-before answers jumping out of our brains! No, that's not it. By being unique, I mean we are true to ourselves and find a path in life that's ours, and not a copy of some rich and famous person's. The life we seek as unique individuals has for sure been led by many before us but the key difference is that we're doing it our way, with the help and example of others who have gone that way already. The key difference is that it's my way as I put my unique values, unique beliefs, unique identity and unique emotions into my unique life.
To find our unique voice, I suggest a really simple thing to do every morning as the first thing to do, and that's to read for a minute or two from your favorite author. That's right, just a minute or two each morning to start your day. Keeping it to a minute or two completely reduces the stress of finishing a book and prevents us from saying "I have no time". My all time favorite is Robin Sharma and I read his books or blog or listen to his audios almost everyday, re-reading and re-listening the same thing! It's amazing how different the same story is the next day. My new "best pal" is Guy Kawasaki and his blog really resonates with me and inspires me to take action.
So the simple way to find and become your true self starts with the easy and utterly enjoyable task of spending time with people of influence. Read their books, their blogs and listen to their audio recordings. Just a minute of two a day is enough and you're on your way to finding your unique self!
Dream It . Live It
Jeff
How good do you dare to be?
16.1.09
George Bernard Shaw, the famous Irish playwright, once said,
I first heard this quote a few years ago as I was faced with an absolutely uncertain life. I had reached a major crossroad in my life as I had to leave the very safe and well-paid confines of being a pilot to venture out to the real world. After serving as a military pilot for 26 years, I felt I didn't have the skills, I was too old to be a businessman, I didn't have the experience, etc, etc. My entire vocabulary consisted of I cannot, I don’t have, I don’t know…. It was all pretty negative.
Then I heard George Bernard Shaw's wonderful little quote, and I’d like to now say that it changed my life right there and then but unfortunately, that didn't happen so quickly. But what it did was to set my mind in motion to ask myself how good did I want to be in life, and even more importantly, how good did I dare be!
That theme has fascinated me ever since – how good do people dare to be? The Steve Jobs of the world, the Bill Gates of the world, even the David Beckhams of the world are those that choose not to follow the rules and do the safe thing. They dared to dream and they dared to follow their dream.
This idea emerged again last week when I met about 300+ fresh graduates and young adults with a few years of working experience. The gathering was for me to share my views on how they could attract me, as a business owner, to notice them in an overcrowded and saturated job market. I told them that while educational qualifications will get them noticed, passion would get them the job. A young lady was following my message very closely and agreed that passion and soft skills training was the way to go, especially in a city like Shanghai with over 6 million new graduates fighting for 5 million jobs. What really caught my attention was despite her agreeing with me on the need for passion, she ended with the words “But realistically speaking….”
I had to interrupt her immediately, and that’s not something I usually do! She went from passionate and filled with hope to completely deflated in a flash just by saying those awful words "but realistically speaking". Was David Beckham realistic when he signed a USD250million dollar contract to play soccer in the USA? Was Bill Gates realistic when he envisioned "a PC on every table" over 20 years ago? Was Steve Jobs realistic when he said "being fired from Apple was the best thing that happened to me". Were they being realistic or did they dare to be the best?
Psychology Today offers great advice on how to change. Check out their post Strategic Change for an interesting read. The biggest takeaway I got from that post was to "Take a Risk". Even if you're not a risk taker, take a few mini risks, remember the great adrenaline flow you felt as you thought about it and when you successfully did and, and then take more mini-risks again. With each little experiment, you’ll realize that it’s easy to change, it's fun to change, and most of all, you can change to be what you must be to enjoy your life to the fullest!
"How good do you dare to be?" The only answer is "The very best!" With this mindset, economic woes and financial crisis are nothing but a small blimp on your horizon.
Dream It Live It
Jeff Tan
"You see things and say 'Why?'
But I dream things and say 'Why not?"
But I dream things and say 'Why not?"
I first heard this quote a few years ago as I was faced with an absolutely uncertain life. I had reached a major crossroad in my life as I had to leave the very safe and well-paid confines of being a pilot to venture out to the real world. After serving as a military pilot for 26 years, I felt I didn't have the skills, I was too old to be a businessman, I didn't have the experience, etc, etc. My entire vocabulary consisted of I cannot, I don’t have, I don’t know…. It was all pretty negative.
Then I heard George Bernard Shaw's wonderful little quote, and I’d like to now say that it changed my life right there and then but unfortunately, that didn't happen so quickly. But what it did was to set my mind in motion to ask myself how good did I want to be in life, and even more importantly, how good did I dare be!
That theme has fascinated me ever since – how good do people dare to be? The Steve Jobs of the world, the Bill Gates of the world, even the David Beckhams of the world are those that choose not to follow the rules and do the safe thing. They dared to dream and they dared to follow their dream.
This idea emerged again last week when I met about 300+ fresh graduates and young adults with a few years of working experience. The gathering was for me to share my views on how they could attract me, as a business owner, to notice them in an overcrowded and saturated job market. I told them that while educational qualifications will get them noticed, passion would get them the job. A young lady was following my message very closely and agreed that passion and soft skills training was the way to go, especially in a city like Shanghai with over 6 million new graduates fighting for 5 million jobs. What really caught my attention was despite her agreeing with me on the need for passion, she ended with the words “But realistically speaking….”
I had to interrupt her immediately, and that’s not something I usually do! She went from passionate and filled with hope to completely deflated in a flash just by saying those awful words "but realistically speaking". Was David Beckham realistic when he signed a USD250million dollar contract to play soccer in the USA? Was Bill Gates realistic when he envisioned "a PC on every table" over 20 years ago? Was Steve Jobs realistic when he said "being fired from Apple was the best thing that happened to me". Were they being realistic or did they dare to be the best?
Psychology Today offers great advice on how to change. Check out their post Strategic Change for an interesting read. The biggest takeaway I got from that post was to "Take a Risk". Even if you're not a risk taker, take a few mini risks, remember the great adrenaline flow you felt as you thought about it and when you successfully did and, and then take more mini-risks again. With each little experiment, you’ll realize that it’s easy to change, it's fun to change, and most of all, you can change to be what you must be to enjoy your life to the fullest!
"How good do you dare to be?" The only answer is "The very best!" With this mindset, economic woes and financial crisis are nothing but a small blimp on your horizon.
Dream It Live It
Jeff Tan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
