Darn it, I should've study for tomorrow's exam, but my mind keep thinking about writing a blog. so be it....
(I might really be an ADHD.....)
Few years back, at several occasion I was trusted to be a speaker for a certain topic related to my work, especially financial and treasurer report. So, my main issue during the session must be lack of participation from the audience, so at several times, I always ran out things to talk about and to fill that gap, I tell them some stories, and these three stories are my favorite.
First story is the story of AN EAGLE AND A CHICKEN.
There's an eagle who always stay on top of a tree and he looks around, here and there he always there. There's a chicken who are coming from the nearest farm passing the same tree that the eagle stay. The chicken always wondering, "Ah, my life is full of hard work here and there looking for food, while the eagle is just standing there, looking around."
So he decided to talk to the eagle, "Hi Eagle, I always look at you and you look like have a good life, can I just sit around all day just like you??" ask the chicken.
"Sure, you may do as you please" said by the Eagle.
So the chicken decided to sit around all day enjoying the view under the tree and just relaxing all day just like the Eagle.
Then came along a fox and looking at the sleeping chicken under the tree, he run swiftly and ate the chicken.
What lesson can you derive from this story?
"If you want to look lazy all day and have relaxing job without having to work hard all day and all night, MAKE SURE YOU'RE IN A HIGH POSITION"
You may jealous looking at your boss, sitting in a room with a comfy chair and looks like doing nothing at all and you're the one busting your ass to do all the work. Yes you can at some point act like the boss, but make sure you're already in the position to do so. In life, there are roles that we suppose to play at a certain time and place. Not everyone can be the boss.
The second story is about A BULL AND A CHICKEN.
One day a chicken say to the bull, "I want to be strong like you and be able to climb that tree and reach the top position."
"Sure you can" The Bull said, "You can just eat my shit and gain all the nutrition from it to make your body strong so you can flip your wings harder and jump higher"
Hearing what the Bull said, the Chicken eat his shit right away and he suddenly feels the flow of energy going through his body and by an easy jump and one flap of wings, he can reach the first branch. So every day he eats the shit and jump even higher. One faithful day, he finally reach the top of the tree and scream so happily. From a far, a farmer sees that there's a chicken on top of the tree and he thinks that the chicken is about to runaway from the farm, the farmer took his gun and shot the chicken to death.
What lesson can you derive from the story?
"BULL SHIT CAN TAKE YOU FAR, but it can't keep you there long"
Well, the lines might have explain it all. In both life and in your work, you might get some hints here and there to make your career path goes faster and easier, but nothing beats the real efforts. If you get too fast and too far, especially if you kick and punch the people around you, you won't stay long in your position, something or someone will eventually bring you back down to earth, possibly not in a nice way.
The third story is about A BIRD.
On a winter, one bird and his flock try to make his way to the warmer place. In the middle of the way, the bird feel cold by the breeze of winds and his wings frozen. He fell to the ground covered in snow. He feel even colder and he thinks that he's going to die.
Then a bull coming, the bird cries for help, "Oh Bull, please save me from this snow, I'm freezing to death..."
The bull then turn his back and throw his shit upon this bird.
"What the f*ck is this, I ask for help and you give me shit?" yell the bird angry as the bull walk away.
But as the time goes, the bird feel the warmth of the shit and it actually helps him in the cold of the snow. He sings so happily.
Then a cat listen sound of a bird singing, he came and he ate the bird.
What lesson can you derive from this story?
"Something you see as shit SOMETIMES might actually HELP YOU and while you're in a trouble and not yet get out of it, don't sing it out loud"
In our life, countless time we get shit from all around us, but wait a minute... take time to analyze it further, because the problem that you get in life might actually make you stronger and make you learn more about your life. With problems, you can learn solution and make you ready for the next problem that will eventually come to you.
And then, once you in a trouble, don't sing it out loud. Don't spread some gossip, don't tell everybody about it. Because those people can actually use that against you. Only talk to the people that actually can help you get through it.
Okay, there the stories go...
I hope you can learn something from them too and might actually help you in your life or in any problems you're facing in your life...
Change your view of shit or problem, because at some point in time, it might actually help you... but don't eat shit to get to the top... all right!!!!!!!!!!!
I suddenly remember what my marketing professor in my university once said, "Human beings in this world should try to co-exist in this world rather than to compete all the time."
and it also brought back a quote once posted by a friend of mine that said, "If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together."
In my life I always hate group work because I realize that I cannot move fast inside a group, well it depends on who the group members are. By being in a group, I always believe that there's no longer "I" or "Me" there will be only "we" or "us". I don't like the most when in a group, people keep saying, "I" or "My opinion". And that also the very reason why I don't like group work, because if there're differences in opinions, then as a group, we have to sit together in order to reach a common perspective towards that certain things.
This is where the strongest part and the weakest part or a team work lies. As person, we can't be expected to know all the things in the world. We can only know so much and when we form an opinion, it will be limited to what we know. But on the opposite side, if we want to take a fast action, this will be a good measure to do it. But in a group, we are a collection of several people with different background and knowledge, and as a group we can complete each other, that's where with a group, we can reach a deeper level of understanding and it will make us even a better person because we learn to listen to other people's opinion.
There's a catch to it though, we need a group of open minded person who are willing to open their ear and mind to listen to what others has to say. If we imagine that we all have wall behind us, that is our knowledge, but there are a lot of holes in that wall. How can we perfected our wall if we prevented others to put a brick on that hole in the wall? Well, the thing is, firstly we have to realize that no wall including our wall is perfect. Each of us has a certain brick that can fill the holes that we have in our wall.
But in Singapore, there's a term named Kiasu.
Well, I don't know the exact meaning but the wikipedia said, it means "Fear of losing" so we try everything at our capability to win. Now, the thing about winning is that there can only be one winner. Now if someone said this to you, "There can only be one winner", my question to you would be, "Are you willing to help others???"
The question apply on the bell-curve system, "This year, only 20% of you will going to get A..."
Are you willing to help the other 80% to excel together?
In my point of view, Bell-curve system is good for a stupid-teacher-type-kind-of-thing. So if the teacher teach badly, it will only be fair to the student if the grade is distributed fairly among the students, because it's not fully the student's fault.
On a first sight, Bell curve will foster competition rather than co-existence.
If we took this to the real world, bell-curve is actually similar to what happen in the real world. All of us are going to compete towards a certain position in an office, because there can be no two bosses on one place.
I would like to offer you an alternative point of view. Well, basically it's based on my personality of a non-high-achiever. I found it super-weird for myself who aims to be a President.
If we try so hard to be on top where we kick, punch and push other people that stand in our way, the top position will be a very lonely place to be. What for a high grade and/or high position if we only ended up alone up there?
From a modern leadership point of view, "Leader nowadays not always have to be the one who stand in front of everybody. Now it more like a rafting in a rapid water where leaders are leading from the back."
All that matters now is working together and people that are willing to listen to you. If you stand in front as a leader but no one wants to listen to you, then it has no meaning at all. Or if you get an A in class but no one wants to be friend with you, it also means nothing. Pure competition will only bring loneliness to our life, but it doesn't mean that we can't be competitive in this life. We can compete with one another but one thing to remember in this life is that we can't exist without the existence of others, so try to have a peaceful co-existence with other people in this life.
If we find others are having difficulties in his/her life why don't we just lend a hand and help them out of their misery. Rather than we just walk pass by them and happy for their misery because we know we can excel on their cost. Instead of we walk that gate of success alone, why don't we walk out of that gate of success hand in hand together? There's no harm in that. If there's such a bell curve, and everyone has the similar score, perhaps... just perhaps, we all can get an A.
Together we can make a narrower distribution of score rather than a very wide of score distribution. Rather than the score range from 100 to 10, Together we can make the score range from 100 to 80 or 90.
I really hate how the bell-curve applied and the education system who put ban on working together. Because individualism and the bell-curve are not supposed to exist one another. They can foster a highly competitive people who are "Kiasu" (pardon my term). bell-curve is suppose to value on the co-existence instead of competition.
Well, that's just my opinion. I can't see the wrong in working together as long as the ultimate goal is achieved. No matter it's an individual assignment or more over if it's a group assignment. Now, if the thing that we want to measure is an individual ability, then the correct way is trough exam where we are contained in a room and working together is really prohibited. But as long as there's no contained room, why ban the 'working together' element...?
Well, my favorite is Individual Assignments, but working it together. So we share our knowledge but at the same time, it's an individual thing and if we are disagree at some point, we are still free to be an individual who holds dear to our own idealism.
But one more thing about idealism, always try to keep an open mind because our idealism has to evolved along with the change that happened outside of our own little universe.
So, instead of win alone, Let's WIN TOGETHER....!!!
Image source:
http://dailytattoo.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/wrist-365-coexist.jpg
