I’ve been embarking on a personal growth journey this year. I just completed another workshop with Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group recently. It’s a workshop I would recommend to almost all my friends to attend.
My biggest takeaway is not the many useful investment strategies that they painstakingly taught, but that Adam Khoo and Conrad (the main trainers for my workshop) all underwent major setbacks before attaining financial success. Conrad underwent 2 business failures and bankruptcy. But they both picked ourselves up and are now running a multi-million business! How many of us still chase our dreams, much less pick ourselves up after repeated setbacks?
What is even more amazing is that both are happily married and consistently make time for their family and loved ones. So one can have it ALL. Some might say I don’t have time for love now, am busy with my career, another might say, they were lucky and had rich families. But Conrad doesn’t even have “0″ levels and they both got married relatively early. Any more excuses?
One doesn’t wake up one day and find oneself successful, one has to set a goal/s, strategise, take consistent action, gather feedback from good friends, maintain flexibility and be able to jump back from setbacks. All these are fluffy talk, some might say, or sound like too much effort. But no one ever became great from having an easy life. Conrad would say that his life is like the NASDAQ!
Our Singapore Story is a great example. How did we manage to achieve a developed nation status with state of the art technology, a top notch education system, one of the world’s best transport systems (MRT, Changi Airport and yes, even ERP), SEA’s financial hub and many times richer than our neighbours? Sheer luck? No, it was our forefathers, our leaders and us that brought this tiny red dot to the world’s attention.
But would we have achieved it if our existence wasn’t threatened? Quick history lesson – in 1965, we were forced to be separated from Malaysia, the British (our main source of livelihood) were leaving, the majority of Singaporeans comprised of illiterate immigrants and worse, there were racial riots and crime aplenty. We were not expected to survive for long. “There was a time when people said that Singapore won’t make it, but we did.” All the national day songs we sang in school finally make sense.
Our then leader, Mr Lee Kuan Yew was a 30 something lawyer, had a huge load on his shoulders. Fortunately for us, he did not give up. But are we giving up on Singapore? Do we support local talents or do we believe the angmoh is better? Do we buy local music records or foreign music records? Do we complain too much against the government, the very government, which pulled Singapore out of the mess it was in? Any wonder why the foreign talents are all pouring in?
Do we blame everyone else but ourselves for our failures and mistakes? “It’s not fair!” “Why is it always me?” “It’s the government’s fault, too many ERPs!” And the quotes go on….why buy a car if one complains about high COE and ERP? Did the government force us to buy a car? So what are the complaints really about? I digress.
The point is if this little red dot can be so successful despite all the odds, so why can’t we as individuals do the same? Have you ever taken charge of your own life and took responsibility for your own actions? Or have you sailed through your life and complained about how everything is going against you?
I’ve started to walk along the former path and find it extremely enlightening and exhilarating. I hope more of my friends will join me on this path of personal development and self-empowerment. Will you join me too? 
Hey,
I am starting to feel the focus and passion to succeed in you. Previously, it was just passion without clarity. You had the energy but did not have the direction.
Now there seems to be a huge change. Keep it up and I am confident that you will succeed.
Thanks Getty!