The six most important words: “I admit I made a mistake.” – Author unknown
The five most important words: “You did a good job.”
The four most important words: “What is your opinion.”
The three most important words: “If you please.”
The two most important words: “Thank you,”
The one most important word: “We”
The least important word: “I”
Dynamix Learning wishes all our blog readers a very Happy New Year in 2009 ~ !
May all your wishes comes true !
Thanks to everyone who have given your wishes and blessing for my 25th Birthday yesterday. A big Thank You.
25th birthday is a great milestone for me and perhaps is a good time for me to reflect on what I have done for the past 25 years in my life. Today, I met up with 2 of my closest friend and we sat at a wine bar of Muhammad Sultan drinking red wine and talking about a simple word LIFE.
25 years has passed and to me I have success stories and Failures. I have good memories and bad memories… Time which I regret doing something and times that I have regret not doing something… I’ll go through some…
Career
My first career was to be an officer in the Singapore Armed Forces. I enjoyed my times in the army, leading my men for mission, talking cock with them in their bunks, cleaning weapon together and even nearly die together in Australia ( I was in an overturn M113). I really enjoyed the company of my men and specialist from ACE Company Plt 3 and 46 SAR C Coy Plt 11. My men are my source of energy and passion in this career. I’ve learn a lot and seen a lot in the 4 years in service, I enjoy to be in the army. However due to some politics and personal issues I have chosen otherwise. I know I still can do what I like which is to serve my reservist with due dilligence and I still strongly believe that I want to protect my country in times of adversity.
My career shift to Insurance was a sudden decision where 2 of my friend came to talk to me over coffee at Suntec Coffee Bean which the conversation lasted from ard 6pm – 10pm. I really appreciate this 2 friend in talking to me and selling to me the idea of a change in career, without them I probably will not be able to step out of my comfort zone. Stepping to this career is not an easy task as many would say “Huh? Insurance? I got a lot liao eh …” but I realised the importance of insurance when I really see claims being made and paid out to family members that are in need and that reinforced my belief in this industry. No matter what rejection I have, I will strive and educate my friends and family members that importance of financial planning. This is my duty and I will do it to my best ability.
In this career I have met with some incredible character like my Boss Jacky Li, who is able to keep calm and cool at circumstances, Zhe Sheng who is a true friend who will stood by you whenever you needed him in all circumstances (if you need a kaki for mahjong he will be there or arcade he will sure be on), Ginny the complain queen of the group who is able to complain every single thing in the world but a very nice girl to talk to when you need a listening ear. DX my mentor and lighthouse in this business who brought me in and show me the way, thanks Pal! Nicky my pacer when I first entered, though we have differing views on certain issues and certain things happen for a reason but still I regard you as a friend that I look upon, I might be lagging behind but don’t you slack cos’ the true potential of me is coming! I really hope to travel with you again(definitely not Korea).
St. John Ambulance Brigade
I have been in this organisation ever since when I was 13 which was 12 years ago. Not very long as compared to some of the seniors in this organisation. I really enjoy my cadets years where we are having our Combined Junior NCO course with the Greenview students, we played basketball everyday after training till late, no matter how hard the training, we teared together, we sweat together and we cheong together… thats the spirit that keep me going and staying on in SJAB till now. Thank you Alpha platoon(1996 -1999) for giving me this fond memories.
I felt indebted to SJAB because without SJAB i will not grow and I will not be able to learn the important life skills that I have gotten from leading my juniors and learning from most of my seniors from East View Secondary School Corps. SJAB has become a part of my life and I made a promise that I will do my best in my capacity in making changes and providing all my cadets the same positive experience that I have went though. Making a difference in this organisation.
LOVE
Perhaps something rather sensitive which I don’t normally share. This part of my life I have made the most regrets. Making stupid mistakes and decisions which in turn cause hurt to some other people. Regretting of not holding on to a relationship which probably could go on. Well these are the past…
Now, I have a wonderful girlfriend now who stood by me rain or shine. She is my pillar of support and strength to carry on. I am grateful to have her to be my side and it is definitely a gift from god to me. Thank you Dear!.
Way Ahead
For my way ahead now is to establish my career and care for the people that stood by me (Which include my friends and family), do my part for society and soar with my goals and vision.
Wish me luck ! The Sky is definitely the limit – I CAN !
I found this story over the internet and I really think its really meaningful :
One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”
“It was great, Dad.”
“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.
“Oh yeah,” said the son.
“So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.
The son answered: “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
“We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
“We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
“We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”
The boy’s father was speechless.
Then his son added, “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.”
Sometimes we aim for wealth and power. We never look back on ourselves actually the poorest of all is those who do not have happiness.
It has been a long time since I blogged. Perhaps too many things happened recently. One of my auntie (my father’s Sister in law) passed away. I was not really extremely closed with her but she is just one of my relatives that I respected. It has been a long time since I cried for someone.
When sending her off the last journey to the crematorium, a lot of things came into my mind. I realised a fact that time is definitely running out. I look back 15 yrs ago I was still on a trip in thailand with my auntie but now she is on her way to another side. Time is really short and its definitely not waiting for anyone. This just means that my parents are getting old each day as well. Sometimes perhaps we are too busy with things and slowly forget to say I love you to our parents or look into their eyes and say a big Thank You for things that they have done for us. Do it now … you never know what will happen. Life is so unexpected, losing 1 friend and a relative in 1 month is definitely not a good experience.
Treasure your loves ones and friends, if you have not contacted them for many years, start to find them back for a good chat and coffee. Remember do not regret, so do it !
I just heard from my friend of a news that is so heart wrenching. One of my secondary school friend died in a car accident yesterday. It was really a shocking news.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/354273/1/.html
A lot of things came to my mind and I really feel that life is really fragile. Perhaps, many a times we do not think that these kind of things might happen to us. Many a times we all think that our friends and ourselves are going to be fine. We perhaps has taken things for granted.
He is the only son in the family.
I guess the pain of the people left behind is definitely going to be greater. I hope my other 2 friends can recover fast, both emotionally and physically.
Dear friends who are reading my blog, please do not take your life for granted, life is definitely fragile and weak.
Still remember Jerry ? The first few post of this blog, I mention about him pursuing his dream of being in the customer service line. I recently met up with him and got to know that he has change his job from an air Steward to a restaurant manager. He did not have the qualification neither he have the experience but what he has is a bit of “luck”. Which in my definition means when hard work meets opportunities.
He got “lucky” while serving one of his passenger on board the budget airline which is the boss of a group of restaurant in singapore. Though its only a budget airline, Jerry treated all his passenger like a first class treatment. He put in his 101% effort in serving and definitely with a smile. At the end of the flight, that passenger was very pleased with his customer service and gave him her name card and it wrote ” Hi Jerry, I really admired your service and would like you to invite you to come for an interview to be my staff in my company. Give me a call”
Hard work does pays and it pays in different way and form. This incident truly illustrate my definition of luck. If you want to be lucky, Work hard for it !!!
Many a times when we faced with challenges in life we often focused too much of our attention on the problem and not getting the solution in the end. In the show Patch Adam, there was one scene which best illustrate this point.
Arthur Mendelson: How many fingers do you see?
Hunter Patch Adams: Four.
Arthur Mendelson: No no! Look beyond the fingers! Now tell me how many you see.
Arthur Mendelson: You’re focusing on the problem. If you focus on the problem, you can’t see the solution. Never focus on the problem! See what no one else sees. See what everyone chooses not to see… out of fear, conformity or laziness. See the whole world anew each day!
Everytime we see a problem we often will choose the easy way out of avoidance due to fear, laziness or any other excuses that you can think of. Focus on the solution, and you will see what others do not see. Just like the finger experiment that Arthur Mendelson did on Patch Adam, many a times we need to look beyond the problem, solutions are just right behind your problems and often we are blinded by it. Look beyond!
Start your own journey as your everyday hero, remember focus on the solution and you’ll get there.
Whenever I asked my clients, why did you purchase the policy that your previous consultant recommended you, out of 10, 5 would say I don’t Know. In any industry in this world, there are always black sheep around. There are always pepole who are driven by the amount money they can earned through the sales and not focusing on the customers needs. Yes, theses people will earn quite a fair bit of money but of course they will lose this sale eventually when they need to do repeated businesses.
Due to all the black sheep in this industry, there are people who labeled us as conman,liars and all sort of others thus many people lost the chance to a good experience of financial planning with a good consultant. It is definitely essential to do financial planning for yourself and your family. Financial Planning is an art to plan for your financial future – retirement, education for your children, Long term Goals and family protection. Many people neglected the fact, due to reason that they are not wealthy nor rich, why would they require to do financial planning? Well if you are not wealthy nor rich than you really need to do financial planning for yourself to protect yourself and plan for your retirement in future.
There are more and more old aged working right now, have you ever ask yourself why? Is it because they are really bored or they have no choice and have to work. Perhaps out of 10, only 2 are working because they enjoy working. The reason contributing this is because our country inflation rate is fast increasing and our standard of living are definitely getting higher and higher. More and more people aren’t able to keep up their money to this 2 contributing factor thus they have no choice but to continue to slog their life to work.
Retirement is definitely not urgent as you perhaps have about 20-40 years more to think about, it is perhaps not any urgent than the PSP, laptop or that LV bag that you wanted to buy now but it is definitely important for you to think about. Retirement planning should start young, as there is always a saying, Every drops of water creates the ocean.
So start to create your ocean and plan early.
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