Life Tips from a Mentor

Roland Teo and I have been having lunches on a regular basis for the last 10 years or so, always at the same Crystal Cafe near his condominium at Merchant Road. He has been happily retired since 2016 and has never regretted a single day of his retirement to smell the roses and take things easy in his life.

A very established and accomplished banker, I always bounce ideas and thoughts with him and I have gained tremendous insight from a top level executive who has international foresight and is very forthright with his local and geopolitical views of the current Governments as well as overseas ones.

His take is very well thought through and he reads widely from many sources. 2 very wise and well experienced quotes come to mind which I have had the points hammered out so clearly from his helicopter viewpoint of managing hundreds of direct report over the last 30 years and also his experience on the board of several Government organizations with major revenue and profit reportings on a regular basis.

1. People are generally Lazy

Not all the people but easily 80% to 90% of the people want to cruise in their life. Everyone is entitled to how they want to live their life. But are they living their lives as subsisting or are they living to the best potential of their lives. Macchiavelli also stated that it is most important to evaluate how one lives and how one ought to live. There is a distinction between the 2 and many people - by choice or by non thinking cruise their way downhill to an ordinary and mundane life.

To work hard takes effort. To work hard and use all your talents to their fullest abilities takes

a) effort

b) purpose

c) getting out of one's comfort zone.

I am mindful of this, as I am at the last possible chance of making something of myself and my business, so everyday I go out there to be a better person than I was the day before and I try not to be lazy to take the path of least resistance.

2. People overestimate their abilities all the time   

A lot of people I know say they will ace this and ace that and make things happen, but when they don't they just fade into the background and slip into some kine of denial as to why things didnt pan out as they were supposed to be.

A lot of times it is due to a) poor planning and b) an overestimation of his or her own abilities.

The end result leads to the person getting a failure and making excuses for why it didnt succeed.

It takes a) collective effort of a team   b) admittance that there are people better than you in almost everything and c) putting in the long hours to see through their goals.

A Bonus Question : 

Are Leaders  made or  born ? 

I disagree, great leaders are born. Average leaders can be taught to behave like a leader.

My estimate from the current crop of incumbent ministers is that we sadly have average leadership in our Government, and our country as a whole can only move along with at best mediocre growth for the next  3 -  5 years

The truly great leaders all did not want to get involved in politics, and as a result we have this lot who are governing us. 

The time between now (2022) and the next elections will be difficult for many of us. There are so many challenges we ordinary citizens are facing it is indeed scary.

  

Rest - Most Important Aspect for a Fulfilling Day

Recently I have come down with a 'flu bug. I believe it is not COVID having taken to ART Nasal Swabs and both are negative. My first instinct was to 'keep calm and carry on'. However, I realised that this is the first time in over 2 years that I have had anything 'serious'. Even when I caught COVID in Nov 2021, it was very mild compared to this.

My symptoms are (to date) : 

a) slightly red eyes with eye dirt. 

b) sore throat

c) slight irritating cough (well under control).

So, I have taken refuge again and am back to my 'man cave' attic for the next couple of days.

A lot of us underestimate the need for adequate rest, and I am really guilty of this. My optimal sleep duration is 8 hours and of late, have been subsisting on 6 hours or so for weeks. My aim is to rest, let the body fully recover and stress less.

Do the things I really enjoy (not exercise at least for the next week) such as :

a) Preparing for my annual holidays with my wife.

b) Mind games (Sudoku, and Circuit Breaker)

c) Flying my drone

c) Cycling

There is enough work for 5 days out of the 7 to keep my team and I busy. The other 2 days are meant literally for rest, recuperation and reflection.

Carpe Diem  

Saturday 16th July

3.36 pm

SINGAPORE 

EST : +7 HR.

My Newest Hobby - Drone Flying

I bought my first drone about a month back. This is in anticipation for my annual holiday with my wife May to Greece and Italy. Drone photos and videos enhance the enjoyment of the trip, and I have been dilligently practising the flight of this 4 propellered device, much to my heart's content.

The only other time I can recall when I tried to fly a model airplane was when I was in Primary 6, this was probably in 1974. My father, Geoffrey, had bought this lovely petrol Spitfire model which came with its own landyard and I didint dare to fly in in the park near my house in Adis Road. Along came this brave and foolhardy friend of mine called Percy (he has now since migrated to Australia) and between the both of us, managed to get the propeller fired up, and with Percy at the reins, he got the plane up for approximately 6 seconds, before it crashed and broke into 3 pieces in the field near my house. So much disappointment 48 years ago and I still remembered the look on his and my face - to this day.

Fast forward to 2022, and I am now  the pilot of my own 249 g drone. The brand is DJI and there are regulations requiring drone owners to register their aircraft if they are of a certain weight category (250 g and more). So my DJI mini 2 just falls under the radar and I am a 'happy camper' just playing with the controls every 2 - 3 days to my hearts content  and I am transported back to the day when I am a schoolboy all of 12 years old in 1974 !

 

What do I think of when I run ? Below is an Example

 This is an very interesting question which I do ask myself from time to time. Do I go into a 'robot mode' and just switch off everything or do I let some thoughts invade into the idyllic zonal spaceout state of mind which sometimes freaks me out at the sheer clarity of thought ? The 'Aha moment' which only comes when I am is truly at peace with myself and shut out everything ?

                                               My 8 K run last year on my birthday 

The answer is a bit of both. To be frank, when I set out, I actually zone out and focus on 2 aspects of my self. 

a) My breathing.

I usually start out the run by concentrating on my breathing ensuring that each breath is measured and I am amazed by the fresh air I can actually intake. I breathe deeply to the extent that my lungs ache. Which is a good thing, in my opinion. We, so often, take for granted our ability to do the simple task of breathing that when you focus on it, you actually appreciate the one of 3 organs which fundamentally keeps us alive (the other 2 being the heart and brain). 

b) My legs.

I have always had strong and stiff legs. They have been both my boon and my bane. They were and still are very strong. I always thought I had iron legs. In my teenage years, my swim club mates called be "Stiff Austin" (a joke about the 6 Million Dollar Man Steve Austin who had bionic lags haha) because well my legs were really stiff and hard. I recall playing football in the courtyard of the Club way back in the mid 70s and I didn't wear shoes.

So one time, I recall, I kicked hard at the rubber ball at the goal, and MISSED. Instead, my leg kicked the huge exposed root of the 160 year old tree. The bark of the tree actually came off and my leg though sore, was still intact.

Thats how strong my legs were !

After the first 2 things are settled, I will just go into a Zen Like Zone and run without paying much attention to my surroundings. However, as the kms go by my mind will start to wander and normally things so random will just pop into the mindfulness zone.

Here is one such thought. I dreamt up a decision tree process while I was running. Only today 10th July have I had the courage to write it down.

Please take a look at my innermost thoughts when I run.

In a nutshell, running on a Saturday leaves me happy, and ecstatic. So I will run based on my decision tree logic as shown above.  

 

What Drives Me to wake up and Go Out and Do What I am tasked to Do ?

 Almost 2 years ago, I went through this course 

"Skills Business and Digital Transformation Programme" by the SMU Academy.

With the completion of this course, I had many revelations about myself. I realised that I was indeed the master of my own destiny and my company, my relationships and my own being were truly being impacted by my mindset. So if I wanted to 'cruise' along in life, then I would surely have achieved nothing significant when my life ends.

What Drives Me ? What makes me get up every morning and want to do the things I want to do ? I thought long and hard about my life up to that very point in August 2020. 

This Picture Below :

   L to R  : Yours Truly ; Richard Pereira, Philip Lim Feng, Sukhdeep     Singh,  Jaspal Singh (taken on the night we beat NUS Team 2 in the Semifinals)

This one above is the University debate team from the NTI (Nanyang Tehcnological Institute) where we reached the finals in late Oct 1986 and defeated NUS Team 2, S'pore Polytechnic and Institute of Education (trainee teachers college back then). The event was the SBC 12 channel of televised debates which were telecast 1 week after the studio debates and it pitted all the Institutes of HIgher Learning from NUS, NTI, the Polytechnics, the Teachers Training Institutes.

NTI'e debating team comprised 4 main speakers who were :

1. Yours Truly (1st Speaker)

2. Richard Pereira (2nd Speaker)

3. Jaspal Singh (3rd Speaker)

4. Philip Lim Feng (4th Speaker)

Reserve : Sukhdeep Singh.

Well the history states that the NTI being only a 3 year combined  Engineering faculties actually managed to reach the finals, along the way, we beat

a) Teachers Training Institute

b) NUS Team 2 (all lawyers)

The finals was an edgy affair, and we were up against the best debating team in the country made up of all lawyer undergraduates, NUS Team 1. The result :

a) Best Speaker of Night - Philip Lim

b) Best Speaker of Series - Jaspal Singh

c) Best Team - NUS Team 1

The sense of injustice was palpabe, but we took the loss with diginity and carried our selves right till the end. 

The then President of NTI was so pleased he actually hosted a dinner for the 4 of us, and made us VIPs.

We had put NTI on the map.

Fast forward 36 years, and 2022, I have kept tabs of my old debating mates.

a) Jaspal Singh - Founder and CEO of SIS International (largest international School in Indonesia and winner of Financial Times Educator of Year).

b) Philip Lim - ex BG of Army, CEO of Exploit Technologies. Also former CEO of Singapore Food Industries, and CTO of another Govt Laboratory during COVID 19.

c) Richard Pereira - ex BG of Air Force and now a successful consultant for the air industry.

My 3 mates have done VERY WELL for themselves.

I am the Underachiever of this high performing bunch and I owe it to myself to make a name of myself in whatever I do, in the past and going forward. If I can at least garner some of their achievements (50%) I would be well satisfied.

Thats why I am pushing day in and day out for QRA to expand internationally for the next 5 to 10 years.

That is What Drives Me Every Day..........  

 

Dune Bashing 8th June 2022 - Naqqar Zuwayyid Region South Qatar

 

Taming the Falcon June 2022

 

                  This is one of the highlights of my  recent trip to Doha Qatar . The falcon represents the bird of prey and to domesticate something like this bird is virtually impossible, but at the stop near the Southern part of Qatar called Naqqar Zuwayyid where there are numerous sand dunes, an inland sea and close to the neighbour Saudi Arabia, i managed to get my hands on taking a video with this majestic bird.

               Its character is very jumpy, so they can sense your anxiety. For the handler who has reared the bird on meat since birth, they are less frightened, but for a stranger like me, I had to calm my anxiety and slowly lift and lower my hand so that the wings are extended.

               Here is the video of the momentous occasion.