Just yesterday Melanie suddenly smsed me to talk about MBA. The other time at her house I noticed her mother had just completed the executive MBA in NUS, and hence I asked her to help me find out about the course. The answer was that the cost varies from $30k for a normal MBA to $80k for an executive MBA. That’s not the point but Melanie proceeded on to ask me about what I wanted to do in the future.

Apparently she has been asking many other people too, and they all seem to have definite ideas of what they want to do in the future. And that makes her feel a little sad to be different.

But I feel that most of us are just heading on aimlessly, not knowing what we want to do. And I don’t know why that is so, but is it due to our education system where we are just trained to learn and regurgitate, and hence we do not know what we want to do in life, because we have so few experiences other than studying? In a way I dare say that most of the people do not know what exactly they want to study in university. Most have just a vague selection algorithm that involves the selection of a course that they are good in. For example, those good in math and sciences go into engineering or the science faculty, whilst those good in the humanities go to FASS. Beyond that, whether we choose to go into mechanical or electrical, well, I doubt we really understand the course anyway. When I finished my JC, I had no idea what electrical engineering was about, but I just selected it and stumbled in head first, luckily it was still a great journey.

What I mean was it is actually a normal occurrence for Singapore students not to know what they truly wanted to do. But in the course of university, as we grow up and learn more about the various industries and sectors, slowly we’ll begin to shape our life’s plan. In fact, some of us will still graduate not knowing what they would want to do, and will randomly select companies that offers them a job.

Not many people will plan their life and tell you where they see themselves in 5 years time. It’s the same as why there exists people who didn’t plan to save their money, and spend their salary the moment they get it. There will be people who lead more structured lives, and they will plan a rough idea (to account for some flexibility) of what they want to achieve. Hence milestones in life like the first car, the first house, the wedding etc would fall nicely as some form of plans have been made.

University is a great time to know more people and talk to them. Share life experiences and thoughts, and extract and learn only the good ones. At least, if by the time one graduates, he or she should have a general idea about the future, and that is enough, I guess.

There is this quote which I once read in the Great Eastern “100 Life Greatest Quotes” which I agree very much. It recently appeared in the form of Brian Tracy’s “Quote of the Day” email, and I thought it was rather meaningful.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. – Eleanor Roosevelt

I think it is rather true. Most of the time we feel inferior to others because we keep comparing. We tell ourselves that we have to win and become better than others, but most of the time it really makes us unhappy when we keep losing. As such we feel inferior and lousy, but actually, nobody did really look down on us. We are looking down on ourselves, hence we feel inferior. If you do not think that you are lousy, and you feel confident about your abilities, no one can make you feel inferior. It is only through our consent (though we didn’t explicitly give consent), that we allow ourselves to feel inferior.

Another thing I would like to share is that sometimes misunderstandings occur due to us repeatedly feeling inferior. Our friends might have said something that makes us feel inferior, although that was not his purpose. Similar to the quote, this friend didn’t make us feel inferior. We made ourselves feel inferior. There are many things that are actually very simple, and we are overly sensitive and think that our friends are criticizing us, and then we feel lousy. But most of the time it is not like that! If we have confidence in ourselves and not feel inferior in the first place, then we would not be over-sensitive about other people’s achievements, and think that other people’s achievements show that we are lousy.

I do not know if you all can make any sense out of the above two paragraphs, but I would still like to urge everyone not to feel inferior about yourselves because honestly, there is nothing much to be inferior about. There is nothing much to be proud and haughty about and looking down on others too!

I would like to just end off by saying that I have always treated people kindly if they treat me well. But I don’t really like it when people just vent their anger on me for no reason. Sometimes its really frustrating. Bleah.

In the book Outliers by Malcom Gladwell, he states the 10,000 hour rule; that is, to become successful in any enterprise, you have to practise for 10,000 hours.

He cites studies of violinists and divides the people who are capable of becoming world class musicians, and the people who are good enough to become music school teachers. The difference is in the number of hours one plays.

Please forget about talent for a moment. Talent, undoubtedly, plays a part, but after you average it out, it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practise to become really good at something. For example, a saleperson has to practise his sales pitch to clients many many times before he can deliver the pitch smoothly. However it takes more practise to learn the art of the close, as well as to recognize the customers body language and do the proper pitch.

The book also gave an example on a guy called Bill Joy (if I remember correctly) and Bill Gates. Both were forunate to have he change to practise their computer programming skills so much during their university and teenage years respectively that when it is their turn to step up and program, they are more than good enough. Which is why the first guy is the founder of sun microsystems, and the other, as everyone knows, Microsoft.

Even Steve Jobs had practise assembling and designing his own computers.

I once read a quote from Bruce Lee that goes like this: I do not fear the man who practises 10,000 kicks one time each, but one kick 10,000 times.

Practise indeed makes perfect. If anyone doubts the examples because they are written, then I shall provide my own example. I obtained good results in programming aspects of my modules in NUS for just one simple reason.

I started making my own websites when i was 13. I learnt HTML, then CSS. Both are not programming, but it led me to learn PHP, and by the time I took my own programming module, I had already built a tuition website with a database of tutors. Although I did not practise 10,000 hours, it gave me a great headstart. If I had spent 10,000 hours on it, I might have been much better.

A little bit of practise goes a long way. Hence work hard and practise your trade for 10,000 hours so you will be good at it.

It often puzzles me on how we refuse to see the right person when we have troubles. When we are sick, we go to the doctor right? Using his expertise, were able to gain a deeper insight on the problems that plague our body, and he might send us to a specialist if need be.

However this is not the same for our financial health. We do not see a financial advisor when we have questions regarding our insurance and financial planning aspects of our lives. Once I read on hardwarezone, a local popular forum, that someone has questions regarding purchasing of private shield plans. A financial advisor offered to help, but the threadstarters reply was that she dont need or want to see a financial advisor. And this reply of hers garnered popular support.

It sure is sad to see how the reputation of a financial advisor stink like that, but unfortunately I think that the smart man or woman would consult an advisor rather than asking clueless people on forums because they do not have any idea on the clauses in the insurance contract.

Whilst it is sad, nobody can blame these people for feeling that financial advisors are just out there to con their money. To put it simply, the name stinks. How many advisors are genuinely there to help a client? The number of people who do a fact find before proceeding to recommendations are considered to be extremely rare.

There are a couple of reasons why I would think that financial advisors have a hard time, and I believe that the industry has to improve for its reputation to go up. But the smart move now would be to find a trustable advisor to begin advising you on any matters.

1. It is easy to be a financial advisor
A doctor has to undergo specific training up to 6 years in duration before he is allowed to practise. An advisor only needs a pass in o levels? Furthermore, how convinced can you be of an advisor selling you an investment plan in a mutual fund if he has no qualifications regarding finance? Only a handful of financial advisors proceed on to get their CFAs. Can you imagine your advisor recommending you to select a fund, but he does not really understand how it works? Telling me it will go up does not convince me at all.

2. Lousy standards with respect to learning about new products
I have participated in the launch of new financial products. Advisors have to sit in for a few hours of lessons and then take a mcq test. Throughout the lesson, certain words are emphasized in a different colour to signify that it would be tested. When the mcq is being taken, people discuss despite being told not to. If our A levels are conducted like this, Im sure no one would have any faith in our qualifications. Similarly, how much faith can I put in my advisor if their knowledge on new products are built on shaky foundations?

3. Not following proper procedures
Do you know that advisors are supposed to get your financial details like salary, CPF contributions, dependents details, monthly expenses, existing insurance plans etc before recommending you any product? However, how many advisors truly adopt such a measure? How many times has your advisor called to say that theres this new product and arranges for a meeting? As opposed to having yearly reviews before saying I think this product suits your current needs or I have a new product, but I dont think it suits your needs at all. This layer of transparency and integrity would go a long way in improving the reputation of financial advisors.

Although there are many black sheep in the industry, there are good ones too. Ask your trusted friends if they have any advisors they trust. I do not like talking to agents on roadshow particularly because I do not know them enough to trust them. But the main lesson of the day is to seek proper help and never ask a completely untrained person for financial advice.

Ace wo nerae, or エースをねらえ in Japanese, means “Aim for the Ace!”. This drama is about this girl Oka Hiromi, who joined the Nishi High School tennis club after seeing this girl (nicknamed Ochoufujin, お蝶夫人) play gracefully on the court. She’s a total newbie, yet the new coach Munakata Jin took notice of her persevering spirit and made her one of the players representing the school for competition. Naturally this means the more qualified seniors are unhappy about the arrangement and seeks means and ways to make Oka feel bad.

The beauty of this drama is in how the coach spends time and effort grooming Oka, and even though Oka does not understand the coach very well, she continues to come back time and again after running away from tennis. Eventually Oka understands the coach’s feelings and at the end of the entire drama she made it as a representative of Japan to go to America to play in the Youth Cup.

We might find ourselves running away from time to time, not understanding what is going on. We may doubt and question ourselves in the choice we make. Oka frequently asks herself why she chose to play tennis. What does tennis mean to her. When Ochoufujin asks her to choose between tennis and herself, Oka initially chooses Ochoufujin, but realizes that she loved tennis so much, so she returned.

Sometimes life gives us challenges, and we may feel dejected for a moment. But as long as we truly believed in ourselves, and we truly worked hard for our goals, we will reach there. Even if the world didn’t believe in you, you have to believe in yourself. The world doesn’t owe us a duty to believe, but we can make them believe. With perseverance and hard work, one day we’ll achieve the things that we are aiming for, and then everyone would be forced to believe.

Ace wo nerae, minna.