the common link...

Of late, a few incidents have stirred up some emotions within me. First, contact with a former near-recruit of mine has yielded a case from her. She has moved on to the service line in a leading aviation company in Singapore. No prizes for guessing what it is. I just found it simply ironic that the new girl currently under my wings has quit three years of flying to move into my line. The sad thing was that I spent quite a few hours (in total) talking to her about our industry and it was a new friend made back then. It was more than a new friend that I was expecting, it was a new business partner whom I have hoped to work with and groom, only to have her as a client instead. Life strikes us in the most mysterious ways.

Second, the friend who was flying for a bit showed me her pictures from her days with her former company, and she probably travelled to more places than I can ever visit in a lifetime. It kinda made me depressed about what I am missing out. The thing about flying is that, although you are a veritable vase in terms of current affairs, you are in an endless bubble, travelling and seeing the world with carefree ease. Why do we have to worry about anything at all? As it is, it probably is the complete opposite of the life that I am leading now, and a great example of how green the grass can be on the other side. I just have to be quietly satisfied that this career will bring me such opportunities in my lifetime.

the game of chance

2011 has come and gone in a flash. It was really especially fast. If the trend continues, it would be 2013, 2015, and 2020 soon enough. This is our golden era, the chance for us to shine. The decade to come - 2011 to 2020 - will truly reflect the dreams and aspirations of what we have always wanted in life. Things that we hope will happen, would come to pass by 2020. I am talking about myriad things here: getting married, owning properties, having a flying career, leading the high life, administer a small-time booming business, and so on. By 2020, the gulf would widen signficantly between those with dreams and those without, and when we enter our mid-30s then, I would look back and wonder what I have done during my golden years.

At 35, I want to look back while sitting on a deck-chair perched on the balcony of a condominium in District 9, 10 or 11. I would then be calculating how much to set aside for the Maserati GranTurismo for the following year for maintenance costs. While I am pondering about such issues, my son would run up to me and interrupt my thoughts, asking to go Sentosa to play at the beach. My wife would then come up to me and ask if we could have a nice brunch at Epicurious. My handphone would ring, and a call from one of my new advisors on how to handle a difficult client. After five minutes, we would head out for a good morning brunch...

Everyone envisions a good life. It doesn't have to involve getting good properties and good cars. It could just be as simple as being able to travel regularly, or even right down to providing enough for the family. Not everyone would envision paying the price for such a good life either. The question is: what is the price that you are willing to pay for such a good life? Is it sustainable in the long-term? I will have to answer such questions as I plan for 2012.

Nothing happens out of chance. Nothing.

bouncing back from defeat

The 5-3 drubbing of Chelsea by Arsenal in the latest weekend of football entertainment has illustrated an important point. It was no more than three months ago that an injury-stricken Arsenal squad was trounced 8-2 by a youthful and energetic Man Utd team eager to impress. The much-improved performance by Wenger's squad has earned my respect. It is no simple task picking up the pieces after a humiliation, but perhaps real warriors take defeat in their stride and move on. Defeat is never something permanent.

It is against such a backdrop that I set about commending the recent efforts of one or two of my team-mates who have outperformed their benchmarks. I can only be encouraged that I have strong team-mates whose performance and diligence are to be emulated. The thing about competition in the soft sense, is that it provides you the platform to self-reflect on your own performance, or lack thereof. The rest is up to me, to improve on my recent setbacks and difficulties, to emerge the stronger. Incredible mental resilience has to be built over time. Geri has been supportive all along during my highs and lows, and I'm glad she's there again to back me up.

My fengshui master told me last year that I would have a difficult time earning my pennies in my 20s. He said I have got to be more hardworking and diligent than other decades to come. It's textbook really. Who doesn't work hard in their 20s to have a better life for the next few decades?! Geri and I were talking about the stress that accompanies the purchase of a property. It's true that the ceiling has been raised and it is much more difficult than before to raise the cash necessary for a good place. Therein lies the challenge and this is exactly what I have been thinking about since last year almost every week. To me, it has become a natural order of things.

I'm quietly keeping the faith. Life will be great!

the Alpha Male

of youth and vitality revisited

Having crossed the two year mark in the business, there is inevitably some soul-searching. It is always an occupational hazard that I review my goals and game plan on a monthly basis. Being a listless wanderer in this business is deadly. Lack of goals translates to lack of drive, and the lack of drive translates to loss of enthusiasm, in career and elsewhere. The Greeks believed that there is a spillover effect in every part of our lives. A sound physical body aids in a sound physical mind, and spiritual aspects are of equal importance too.

There have been many setbacks in my career so far. Life always throws you challenges and tackling them is what life is worth living for. Buckling under the pressure is surely an option, and an easy way out of things. Perhaps one day I'll have to do that, but not before I give my best shot. I stood at the kitchen window and stared at my four-wheeler parked just below my block, and sighed without realizing it. My mum asked what it was about, and we ended up having a half-hour discussion, inclusive of my dad, about the changing times and prices of our generation - how property prices are escalating and the government holding it back for Singaporeans, and about the twofold utility purpose of my car in business dealings and personal life. I continued staring at my car as I uttered honestly to my parents that, "I am capable of much more this year, I have put in only 60-70% of my efforts in my business."

It is exactly at the threshold of the fourth quarter. Having achieved Honours Bronze this year and qualified for the incentive trip to Hawaii for next year, I can choose to slack off and have some personal time to myself. Or, I can harness my remaining energy of youth and vitality, and put forth a masterful display, perhaps a breathtaking fight to the finish. I have chosen this career not because of its work-life balance option, but the option to give it 110%, and reap the astonishing rewards that this 'risky' (as many naysayers would put) career can give. Societies always need entrepreneurs to move forward, and I shall carry society with me then.