Archive for category Journal
When life gives you lemons…
Posted by Kevin Chan in Journal on June 1, 2010
I was feeling kinda pissed today when I found out that despite all that I did last semester, school was kicking me out of hall. Yup, school can be pretty mean. And this isn’t the first time NTU’s kicking me out of school and leaving me without a place to stay. It happened last year as well, and this year I really did my best to make sure I didn’t have to go through it again… but I guess that’s just life for you.
The thought of not having a room again kinda really sucked, but at my lowest point today I remembered that there were just two kinds of people in this world – those that complain, and those that make things happen.
It’s a pretty easy choice to decide between the two, I dare say.
I can either moan, whine and complain about my current situation and not get anywhere with it, or I could actively work towards solving my situation, and possibly learning and gaining so much more.
If there’s one quote from Dale Carnegie that I’ll always remember, it’s this – when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
When life give you lemons, make lemonade!
Every adversity, every setback you face is accompanied by an equivalent opportunity. It’s no wonder that the Chinese word for crisis, 危机, consists of two words – 危, which means danger; and 机 which means opportunity.
The Chinese word for crisis.
When I look back, this has really been a lesson that I’ve learnt time and time again. The toughest moments in my life – falling out of love, living a nomadic semester, disappointing my parents – have only served to make me stronger and wiser. There’s a lesson and a flipside to every event, you just have to see it.
Here, I’ve got one big lemon. The challenge is to make one gigantic pot of refreshing lemonade that will serve to refresh everyone. Doesn’t looking at adversity as an adventure make life so much more exciting?
Life’s an adventure, don’t waste it by looking at lemons as what they are – just lemons. Adversity can be so much more if you just let it be.
Motivation Secrets
Posted by Kevin Chan in Journal, Wealth on May 30, 2010
What motivates a man?
Conventional wisdom tells you that people react to tangible, material rewards. The bigger the carrot you dangle in front of a person, the harder they work. So is it true that the more money you put in front of a person, the harder they work?
Well, this very interesting video suggests otherwise.
Ain’t this presentation style just so awesome? I just couldn’t bring myself to stop watching it!
Anyway, the main takeaway for this video was this – what people really want isn’t money. It’s really things like autonomy over their work, a sense of mastery as well as being in a position to make a contribution.
I’m not saying that money isn’t important, it still is, but when people start getting sufficient money to meet their needs, it really isn’t what’s going to push them to run that extra mile.
Remember this, economists – human beings aren’t just profit maximizers, we’re purpose maximizers too.
What happiness is really about.
Posted by Kevin Chan in Journal, Love, Uncategorized, Wealth on May 16, 2010
If there’s something really profound that I’ve learnt about myself recently, it’s this: I’m much happier when I’m purposefully working as compared to when I have completely nothing to do.
Do what makes you happy!
I’ve realized that the days that I feel the most down are the days that I don’t really have anything to do or anyone to meet. Days like that can feel pretty darn depressing.
When I really thought about it, it occurred to me that most of what we call modern entertainment doesn’t really make you happy, but are just temporary distractions to life.
Really, just take a moment to think about it.
A movie in the cinema, partying the night away in a club, escaping the country for a holiday – yes these things can be fun, but it sometimes seems that we do these things as a form of escape from reality, and escape from our sometimes less than satisfying lives.
What really makes you happy? What are the keys to happiness then?
Victor Frankl wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning that:
“Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.”
And I think that’s a very big hint to that big secret. Happiness usually requires action of some kind. I’ve realised that I’m the most happy when I am working on something that is important to me, and close to my heart.
I’m happy when I feel that I’m going somewhere with my work and achieving my purpose in life.
I’m happy when I feel that what I’m doing is positively impacting others.
I’m happy when I’m achieving goals that are important to me.
I’m happy when I’m cultivating a successful relationship with someone dear to me.
But I’m definitely not happy sitting around and doing nothing. Some people may say that it’s the best thing ever to not have anything to do, but sloth is a very real sin. Possibly the worst sin that you can commit against yourself.
Finding true joy and happiness in your life will never be about inaction. Hopefully, you’ll find your calling in life – that something that makes you wake up early in the morning just because you can’t wait to continue working on it, that one project that you can’t stop thinking about.
Don’t settle and spend your life doing anything less than that.
A brand new chapter.
Posted by Kevin Chan in Journal, Uncategorized on May 10, 2010
A brand new chapter of my life starts in about 10 hours time. I can just feel those final pages turning.
The new chapter.
Every time I enter a new phase of my life, things have turned out way more differently than I had expected them to.
When I just finished secondary school, I always thought that I would attend college in KL, and I somehow ended up in Singapore.
When college was through, I always thought that I would have ended up somewhere overseas doing something like Law, but I ended up doing a double major in Marketing and Business Law in NTU instead.
Things never really turned out the way I expected them to, but they always turned out for the best. And so, here I plan to stick to my modus operandi – to venture headfirst into the exciting, uncharted depths of the future.
I can’t wait to see where this exciting, exciting road takes me!
Difference between somebody you love & somebody you like.
Posted by Kevin Chan in Journal, Love on May 9, 2010
I was just going through the clutter in my wallet and I found this small piece of paper, neatly folded, with words so faint that I could barely read them.
The note.
As I strained my eyes to read the faint writing, I realized that it was a note that a friend wrote to me all the way back when I was still in lower secondary. It was a copy made with fax paper and it nearly was illegible. So I just typed it all out for memory’s sake.
What was written...
The note was titled “Difference between somebody you love & somebody you like“. It’s pretty cute, so here is that old, old note of mine.
Difference between somebody you love & somebody you like
In front of the person you love, your heart beats faster. But in front of the person you like, you get happy. In front of the person you love, winter seems like spring. But in front of the person you like, winter is just beautiful winter. If you look into the eyes of the one you love, you blush. But if you look into the eyes of the one you like, you smile. In front of the person you love, you can’t say everything on your mind. But in front of the person you like, you can. In front of the person you love, you tend to get shy. But in front of the person you like, you can show your own self. You can’t look straight into the eyes of the one you love. But you can always smile into the eyes of the one you like. When the one you love is crying, you cry with them. But when the one you like is crying, you end up comforting. The feeling of love starts from the eye. But the feeling of like starts from the ear. So if you stop liking a person you used to like, all you need to do is cover your ears. But If you try to close your eyes, love turns into a drop of tear and remains in your heart forever. Flatter me, and I may not believe you, Criticize me, and I may not like you, Ignore me, and I may not forgive you, Encourage me, and I may not forget you. - Author UnknownIt’s been so many, many years since I neatly folded this long note and put it in my wallet, but love’s still that magical adventure it always was. For that secondary school boy who folded that note so many years ago, love is still his life’s craziest, most mystical mystery.
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the Journal category.
My name is Kevin Chan, and welcome to my blog on personal development.