Lessons In Life

I have always wandered what could be the most important element to achieve great success in life. In fact, I don't think there is any. In retrospect, I discovered that hard work is one very commonly used term to achieve success ie from my parents, teachers, etc. No doubt it is, as it has become even more apparent now. But even with all the hard work that u put in..ie toiling and burning the midnight oil everyday for example for EOS doesn't necessary give u an edge over others. Hence, the early conclusion...NONE.

If I were to cramp every darn information in my freaking cerebrum from Foundation 2 and all the 9 systems plus Health Issues, I would most certainly never finish studying with only hard work as the sole motivator. I believe that putting ur best effort without applying a bit of tricks into it will create problems for me especially when we are talking massive crunching of information in such a short time.. ie EOS SEM5. If most of us have heard the term study hard, you can be forgiven that you have most certainly seldom hear of the phrase studying smart. See the point. The point being made here is not to put myself in an elevated state of ego to classify others as less capable but merely stating that some things can be done with less effort.

True enough, it is difficult to achieve this balance when trying to achieve the best in everything.

No doubt, there are brilliant people around who hardly need to spend 2 hours a day on book or probably just listen to the teachers and immediately absorb everything like sponge. I still remember on many occasions, in VI and in Taylors, where there are just so many intelligent students who hardly study or put as much effort as the majority. Some of them even had time to get drunk, go clubbing, go holidays and some even manage to get good results after a mere few days of studying. Unfortunately for those that I know happen to be rich and pretty spoiled, so they end up along the same as those who don't possess the gift of intelligence. Still, intelligence does not decide if you could go far in life. Graduating with first class honours from Oxford /Cambridge/Harvard does give you an edge over others when it comes to job employment but really, regardless of the amount of grey matter in our brain, we all start from humble beginnings.

I still remember a comment made by a CEO of a top company from Singapore that sponsors student to study anything (except medicine) and also pay for their transportation, air fees and accomodation and also their allowance.

"They are so many students scoring a string of As in their results, getting top results compared to our time. But we begin to discover that most of them have a huge sense of pride in themselves especially the brilliant ones. I remember on one occasion, there was this girl who graduated top class in her degree but when she started work, she began to give us a lot of problems. She had a meeting to attend and was late but when she was told to come immediately she said, " Can't I just finish my coffee and then come??"

Imagine wat our typical Malaysian response would be... "U ingat ini c bapak lu punya company arr?? Boleh suka suka buat apa- apa saja, haa??" What happened to that girl wasn't told of course but this typical example of a "Prima Donna" isn't what the company expects of her. The point is, intelligence does not give us special privileges in the things we do but merely a bonus over what others don't have. A Prima Donna may be brilliant but certainly does not have the experience of an employee who has been working for 20 years. Similarly, life is a journey which cannot be thought but must be must be experienced. Hence hard work also applies to geniuses/intelligent people albeit to a lesser extent.

Be it a Harvard student or a Cambridge student, it doesn't necessarily give u an edge over others. Me being not a very brilliant student knows that hard work is one way but is not the hard and fast rule. Certainly connections with others does help. Brilliance is an added bonus but not everyone is that gifted. After reflecting on the number of people graduating as doctors, it has become clear that finding a specific field of interest or a niche would give me the upper hand.