Sensei Chia's birthday celebration - after strenuous 1 1/2hr workout

Our  chief instructor, Sensei Chia K.F. recently had a birthday on 31st March. So, I decided to buy him a small cake and drinks to celebrate the occasion after the class on 1st April. No joke ! Here are the pictures of the happy occasion, although there are only 20+ trainees here, the total dojo size is about 50 when you add the people who come only occasionally. There are about 200 members, and most have dropped out or stopped for work, travel, family or age related reasons. For a 15 year old club, this is not too bad a record, and  I hope we can expand the club far and wide within Singapore.

BHAG - Set a Big Hairy Audacious Goal ;

We have only on chance around the block called 'Life' so, why sit back and just do the bare minimum ? Maybe the reason is "fear". Fear of failure and making a fool about oneself. A good friend called Jane put this very clearly to me yesterday. "The only thing to fear about is fear itself". What exactly does this mean ?   When you are fearful, you are worried about the consequence, such as looking bad, potential injury and even possible death. So, if you can face the fact of losing face, where people laugh hysterically at you, where you have succumbed to a torn muscle, or broke a bone, where you have even cheated death. Then you ask yourself. I have been through it all !! What else is there to fear ????

     Go out and do something worthwhile with you life. Set a Big Hairy Audacious Goal as said so eloquently by Mr. Sim Wong Hoo (CEO of Creative Technology, the little company that captured the Sound in the PC world). 

      Set yourself a BHAG,break it down to smaller parts, and just do it !!!  You will be shocked at once you have achieved it. 

      Fear is nothing to be fearful. Who dares wins BIG. 

Friends - cultivate your hobbies early, plan to do things for life

            


 A good friend of mine reminded me yesterday that the well-off people are more 'kiasi' meaning scared to die when they are at the end of life. Why ? Because they have worked so hard to achieve all the material trappings that life has to give, beautiful houses, boats, planes, cars, holidays, that they never
want to let go.

         Compare that with the homeless, down and out, poor people. When you have nothing, what are you afraid of losing ? We came into this world, naked, with nothing. We leave this world, also with nothing.
Yet, the world is driven by businesses, and building empires that enrich the leaders of the 1st World. How wrong a focus we have in life !!

        The leader Alexander the Great, when we found out that he was dying, made strict instructions to his subordinates that his casket must show him with his hands open and face up. Why ? So to tell every one, that he left with nothing. This great conquerer of much of the European and Asian world. On the other hand, the Egyptian pharoahs, were so obsessed with their riches and things on earth, that they built for decades pyramids which would house all their many earthly treasures, including killing their many wives and concubines plus have thousands of  slaves put to death together with them so that they could serve their master in the afterlife.

        I think, all of these practices are works of people who have lost their direction in life, thinking only of their magnificence and glorious existence, megalomaniac, or requiring a pychiatrist to bring them back to the real world.

      Belief in a religion would help all of us adjust to the light speed of progress in this world, work would give us a sense of purpose, having a family would teach us sacrifice, and impart a  sense of responsibility and selflessness, and plan to have hobbies as well as make the effort to give back, however little you can, to the less fortunate.

       I am blessed to have wonderful parents, a supportive wife, and 2 heirs. I am most appreciative of my position in life. I have a number of hobbies, and finally, I want to give back, because at the end of the day, what matters is not so much what you achieve for yourself, but what good you can do to enrich the lives of others.

      Seize the day, friends and readers of this blog.

TEDx Inspiring Women of 2011 - Tan Le ; Australian of the Year

      This video was taken in December 2011 featuring the most inspiring women in the Technology, Entertainment and Design field worldwide. Tan Le was 4 years old when she was one of the many thousands of 'boat people' fleeing Vietnam during the divisive war from 1963 - 1975. Her short 10 minute speech moved many to tears, as her family of 3 women, grandmother, mother and her overcame all adversities, working terribly hard for years to eke out a living, and to improve their impoverished lives.
      When you have adversity thrown into your face -  what do you do ?  

1. Say, its fated ?   My response - Bullshxxx. Life is a sequence of totally random events, good for some, 
    bad for others, and making the most of your life is up to you. Good, bad, wonderful,tragic, ecstatic,
    never to be forgotten or painful. This is life.

2. Back down and hide and lie low ?

3. Make the best of the circumstance. When Life throws you lemons make lemonade.

    Carpe Diem. We go around the block only once. Whether you want to stroll, run, ride, drive,fly or crawl  is up to one person, YOU.
 

Taking the Great Leap Forward

         When you run your own business, you know one thing for certain. No one owes you anything. You need to go out and secure the orders and bring food to the table to not only yourself but also to the staff reporting to you.

          Its never easy, and there are many scary parts, managing cash flow, reporting profits year on year or if there is a loss one year, double up efforts to turn around the business else, it will go one way only after that  - down. Howeverer, if the lucky breaks come and you are in the right place and at the right time with the correct strategy, you will be rewarded magnificently - far, far more than all the rest of your cohort who went out and worked for an employer as they would also run the risk of being retrenched, and in the later years, would be in difficult positions to get rehired, due to their age. I personally know of 3 friends who 'made it big' amassing more than US$ 20 million each in assets so far  and they are all businessmen.

      One is my business partner, the other 2 are my university classmates who never excelled academically, but came out and started their own businesses early and were able to ride the events management (read managing of Trade Shows) and money markets respectively.

        I have never regretted my decision to setup my own business and encountered one breakup in my previous company in 2002, a  'failure' in the sense that the partners who went into the business never felt that through all the sacrifices put in, the monetary rewards were satisfying. We were struggling because of an outdated model, so I decided to leave and setup my own 'show'. 100% by myself, with no bank loan, or partners, just my life experience and a strong desire to succeed much more than before.

       "Failure is the mother of success. If you haven't tasted extreme failure, how can you savour success to its sweetest taste ?'

        Seize the Day my friends. Savour Life and Go out there are make something of your Life.
 

Goodbye and God Bless - Henry Tan 1963 - 2012

    More than a week ago I received the sad news that Henry Tan, an ex-business partner and friend of mine, suddenly passed away, in China. Henry and I go back more than 20 years already, and I first met him when he was an engineering assistant at the (then) Siemens factory in Batu Berendam in Malacca.

    A brilliant technical person, Henry could reverse engineer many relaibility and failure analysis products and add new software features to develop his own brand. He set up his own manufacturing company IHS as well as several other companies dealing in software and trading. I admired Henry's knowhow in almost every test equipment he used, and when I started my fledgling business in 2003, I knew that the ideal person to tie up in Malaysia was Henry. He pushed the business hard and we had some major successes in Malaysian companies such as Infineon Malacca and Qimonda Senai.

     However, in 2005, with a new Singapore partner, we decided to part ways amicably and remained occasionally in touch at Trade Shows and at customer locations. He went on to represent other FA products but scaled down his manufacturing, focussing on complete turnkey projects in new semicon setups in countries like China and even in the Middle East.

     A workaholic, Henry will be best remembered by me as a staunch Christian and was able to separate friendship decisions from business decisions. He was the pillar of his family, and left behind his wife Charity and 3 daughters.

     God be with you,  Rest in Peace , Henry.    
 

Respect has to be earned, a Man's word is his bond

  

     Sometimes in life, one learns lessons through school, or in the working world. As a leader and boss of a small SME, it is apparent that people's efforts, loyalty, motivation and morale are due to a multitude of factors. I have been managing a small business which has grown in size over the last 9 years. There are some staff I can call upon as friends, though in business, sometimes conflicts appear. So I was quite shocked to hear that one former staff has no qualms about telling me one thing and doing the complete opposite. I am saddened also that he or she appears to be an upright person with good standing in his / her environment  and can resort to desperate tactics to harm the company when I have not done him or her any malice. I am deeply disappointed needless to say. Perceptions about people are about your words and actions.

      Business is business, yes of course, but a Man's word is his bond.

     We learn who are our true friends eventually. Seize the Day my friends (less 1).