Attitude...

This week i had a major in-camp training, this unit called 327 SCE, a battalion size unit came in. I wonder if it was fate or luck, i get to meet two person, that i believe was fruitful to me. One is Edward Tan, a Regional Director for a MNC, another one is Mr Gerald Singham, a lawyer. These two person offered me a few advice that i believe triggered thoughts on me.

Edward currently holds an appointment of a Regional Director in a Italy Based MNC, dealing with furniture related engineering industry. What i see him as a role model is, when he was in CJC, he flopped his Chinese F9, which took away the chance of him getting into local university. He then took up a Dist learning Bachelor, which took him 3 years to complete. He was realistic with his choices, and went ahead with his believes. As my plans coincides with what he was going through, i talked with him, asked for his advice and opinion. He told me, This route that you have chosen, is not going to be easy. These 2 years of studying and working concurrently will be the worst times of your life. Hold on and persevere, the future would be yours to hold. I too knew that, success stories do not belong to everybody, but i would like to believe that i can be one of them. He to me is somehow a source of motivation, a example of a person who went through what i think i will go through and made it. One day when i fell awfully low, i will think of what he went through, that would be my thrusting power forward.

Mr Gerald Singham, hhmmm, perhaps if you flip the paper couple of months ago. The case of the journalist sexually harassing a lady at the pub, and got charge at court. Well, he was the defending lawyer for that Journalist. http://www.theworldlawgroup.com/ He is the President of The World Law Group. Although i am not into the Law thing, well pershaps by seeing the size of his group, i do believe that he is of the higher echelon.

How do i get acquainted with this man, someone who in my life might never get a chance to talk to. I was having lunch with my boss, then he sat down and joined us. He is a friend of my boss. My boss introduced me to him, he was easy to talk to, maybe by virtue that he is a lawyer, he talk politically =) My Boss asked him to give me some piece of advice. (well, at normal times, you need to pay him for advices =p)

He presented to me a challenge that our country is facing, foreign talent. The fact is many of our people are not very bothered by it. We believe that we belong to the higher echelon to Indians and Chinese etc. He qouted an example was, he had a lawyer attached to him from india, very hardworking, effective chap. At the end of the attachment, he asked Mr Singham, do you have a place in your firm that i can place myself in?? Why was the reply, he then replied by saying that in Singapore, life is so easy, we enjoy the comfort of 2 things. Scenario one, A lawyer in Singapore is handed a case, he delegated the research work to his assistant, and him do the paper work and probaby done in 5 to 10 mins time. This India lawyer, who was handed the case, have to walk all the way down to the library by himself and probably use 5 hours of his time to flip that dusty old book for his resources. The lesson here is we enjoy the resources that we have, it acts as a force multiplier to our work, we are extremely efficient in our work. And because of our resources, we get to rest early and wake up later. The poor india lawyer has to wake up at 5am in the morning to beat the traffic and goes back about 10pm at night. WHat a horrible mismatch!!! SO if you are a employer, who would you choose?? He finished the topic by saying that when the government says the threat of foreign talents is coming, they really mean it.

He proceeded on to another topic, he mentioned that he often says inside the interview forum, to listen to what the interviewees got to say. There was this guy, who after the interview was posed this question to the board, What's the working hours? After the reply from the board, he then said, hhmm then wouldnt this job affect my golf games?? Well Mr Singham told him to go to hell, and of course he was not employed, afterall that guy was rich. Enter this guy, fresh grad from school, humble background, after the interview he was offered a pay that was not the desired amount that they can afford to offer him, his reply was "Thank you Sir!!!" Mr Singham was very shocked to hear that answer thought that he was being sarcastic, posed him this question, "Don't you think that you are paid a little too much??" He replied, "No Sir, i thank you for giving me the job, as for the pay, i am sure that after my one year of hardwork, next year you would increase my pay to a respectable amount" that sentence shocked him, and of course he got the job.

Mr Singham with that second guy as a reference, introduced a term so important yet so forgotten by many, Attitude. the first guy definitely has a less preferred attitude. The second guy, who is humble and bears a positive attitude, is well liked and preferred by all. He pointed out to me that all employers would like a worker that bear a positive attitude, who is then able to contribute to the company at all times. To him, if you compare Attitude vis-a-vis Intelligence, he would employ the less smarter but good attitude guy, for he would be the one who will be able to influence the outcome of work thats tasked to him, and definitely in a very positive note. To me, what he is telling me acts as a reminder, at anytime any place, this positive would be the thing to bring places.

These terms are so often heard, yet it is so easily forgotten. How many would be able to keep their mind clean from all the poison surrounding him. Many a times, the intelligence and education of a person would place him on a complacent ground, denying himself the chance to grow in both career and mental. This is a social poison, which can be seen everywhere, how many people would be able to deter it. I read about a Magnate today in the papers who make it with just 6 Bumboats in the 1967, now he is a tycoon with hotels at aust and a shipping company in singapore. He too had people who was trying to "poison" with the why you going overseas, risky etc. SHould he have placed his bets all in singapore, with the recession in place, he might not have made it now.

Before my lunch with him ended, he taught me a line, One day if there is a employer during the interview posed you this question of "Why should i employ you?" He told me to say that, I am a 24/7 worker, to me, my work don't end after 6pm, it would just be shifted to another place, which is my home. Well to me, that would be more of a advice rather than a line to use for interviews. When there are times, you feel like giving up at home, reflect at that time when you claimed this line yours. Perhaps you will be able to achieve higher grounds.

its 2056hrs now, signing off

Regards
dreamwaters

Priority of task...

Went to the gym after work today. Met lester there, he belongs to a group of people that i brand them as freaks, not in their looks or appearance, rather their thinking. Anyway, he is one of the person that i can really interact with in camp. We started to talk about lots of things, business management, marketing strats. I discover that we belong to the non-singaporean kind of business people, we believe in service and product, however the emphasis in not with price. This point is reiterated by qouting you a example, you are a singaporean customber, you walk in to the shop wanting to buy something, what would be your immediate concern?? 3 options, Price, Service and Product. Think about it.

He started to talk to me about the current trend in the service, he was rather quite set to leave the army in 2 years time, you sometimes just have to give it to him.For he is a graduate, but he forgoes his rank and serve and a LTA rather than CPT. Purely for the fact that he has regretted his decision as a regular and hence decide that he would not want the rank to tie him down. As he seems quite disillusioned by his current status, i proposed to him, why not go take another private degree. Since it does't matter whether you stay or not, why not take the chance while you still can, expose yourself to more field of learning. My point to him was that, it doesnt matter what do you gain from this degree, however it would be a chance to open your mind to more of the world, purely for the fact that knowledge is power. He do have the plan, ha ha, great minds do think alike =P

Then i tell him about a colleague who is also doing part time studying. This is a common friend for both me and him. How should i start this, hhmmm. Let me quote an event, i was on this guy's car, he stunned me a question, "LTA KENNY, you think ii should be more focused with my studies or work?" Hhmmm, normally people would say, studies right?? Guess what i told him, "SO, if you don't work, would you have the money to study??" To me, if you are a student, then fine, your focus is studies. however if you are a worker, perhaps the question that was popped, would rather show me your state of mind. I would dare to say that, he inside his mind, wished and pleaded that i would say studies. Well, i guessed i am the wrong person to asked after all.

Dispite what i told him, he is still the person that mixed his work and studies together time and again. When the whole world is busy working towards a deadline, he would either take leave, or he would just say in a very reluctant tone, i need to study for my exam. Lame and weak excuse... Taking up the course doesnt mean that that's all it matters. juggling between two important events at one time is stuff, nobody says it wasn't tough at all. Perhaps only when you put yourself onto such tests, you will know how strong you are.

In Combat Engineer planning has a principle; "Priority of Task" perhaps i should shed some light into this sentence. Scenario: When you have 200 hours worth of work to complete but you have only 150 hours left. MAybe you should examine what's your priority is, and by doing that you can buy time to finish the least urgent ones.

When i leave the army in Jan, i would be taking on the challenge of working and studying at the same time. "Man is like a teabag, sometimes you gonna put them in hot water, then you would know how strong it is". To be frank, i am not ready to test it, i am ready to challenge it. My mental is strong, now it would be physical. Perhaps its the fact that everyone says its very tough, i would like to pose a challenge to it. 2 Years is not very long nor short. Let it be a test of character, let it be a test of desire and drive. Isn't it boring to be in status quo all the time?? ha ha ha

Many might not agree with my thinking, but in my opinion, that would be the best arrangement for me, the utimate stage for me, sounds very gunghoh. however we shall see....

kelvin keeps buggin about a issue thats really stressing me out... dying...... help...

regards
dreamwaters

Learning to live with each other...

Yesterday, i fulfilled a childhood dream and saw the Eagles in concert. Something that with money, you might not be able to see. Don Henley's Vocals is still so magical after so many years, guess what he put on lotsa weight this time. Ha ha ha i guessed thats a sign of good fortune i would say. Don sang a song after the break, called Hole in the World. This song is not really a new comparing with Hotel California (The song that every person could hum to, and thats not the only song that they are well known for, for anyone's info). Back to the song, it was written on 2001 after the Sept 11 incident. This song somehow touches on inter-human relationships. The song is set with mellow and sad tunes as a backstage, singing a acapella, then follow by lyrics about how people fight and get angry with one another. This somehow is linked and anchored towards the angry JIs.

Don qouted a statement, " This Song is call Hole in the World, somehow the Hole just seems to get bigger" This appears to be a statement of dispair and disappointment. Maybe We should can see this from another angle, even at our present day and time. AT work, house, we are constanty try to juggle between relationships. Be it, Family, Work, Firendship.

Why are we not able to live in harmony and always seems to have irconcilable difference. Using my shallow knowledge, perhaps i can contribute my 5 cents worth of opinion. I would like to use a phase call " Difference of Ideals" isnt it so?? We have to face the fact that everyone is brought up very differently, different culture and background. Leading to different education, we learn to think differently. hence it will form our own sets of values.

How can we see this difference of values?? In the television, we see Kerry and Bush showing the world their difference of Ideals openly. We also have the terrorist who holds very dearly their believes, who is even willing to sacrifice their precious lives for their Ideals. It is because of such people who held to different to their ideals, stacking on their very strong character Subsequently meet up with the people who have similar character howver in this case different ideals, forms a competition. The competition stretches to people out there, and forces people to take sides which subsequently transforms from competition to enmity.

Glenn Frey pointed out " why cant people just learn to live together, not trying to preach but why people just can't learn to live with each other." Even for myself, i also held on to my believes, and then you will have your own ideals, i have people that i cant live and work with. When he quoted that, i asked myself that question too. I have problems with my family, work. Well i guess, the first point is to start and see things from the other side's perspective. Only then will she be able to learn to come to a common ground, where we will be able to cherish each other more. Perhaps we can reach the promise land over the yonder.

I discovered that i belong to a group of people that grows slow during puberty, as in the thinking wise. Nowadays, i see myself thinking like a old man. Like things that old people like, i start like listen music of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong. i wonder whats the next stage of evolution for me...


Hole in the world

(Don Henley, Glenn Frey)

Chorus:
There's a hole in the world tonight.
There's a cloud of fear and sorrow.
There's a hole in the world tonight.
Don't let there be a hole in the world tomorrow.

They say that anger is just love disappointed.
They say that love is just a state of mind.
But all this fighting over who is anointed.
Oh, how can people be so blind.

Chorus

Oh, they tell me there's a place over yonder.
Cool water running through the burning sand.
Until we learn to love one another,
We will never reach the promise land.

Chorus

They say that anger is just love disappointed.
They say that love is just a state of mind.
But all this fighting over who will be anointed,
Oh, how can people be so blind.

Chorus/End

Regards
dreamwaters