Ultimate Career
Career Worth Living For!
Monday Blues
Feb 8th
Is it Monday already? How did the weekend fly by so quickly?
Well, they say that “time flies when you are having fun” and this, according to nuclear scientists, is actually a literal phenomenon.
Whether you are a working professional or studying student, you would have felt that a typical weekday can be such a drag while the weekend, especially when you are enjoying yourself, just zips past in a blink.
And you would have heard of the term “Monday blues” which is commonly used amongst working adults to describe their lousy mood on Mondays. It is a kind of sadness, lethargy, and even slight depression. In fact, “Monday blues” often starts building on Sunday afternoons when the thought of the next day being a workday after a good weekend creeps into one’s consciousness. In fact, there are people who start to feel a sickness coming on on Sundays and by Monday morning, they’ll feel a strong urge to see a doctor. Ask any doctor who runs a clinic and they’ll tell you that Mondays are their busiest day of each week.
And ask any retail business and they’ll tell you that Mondays (and Tuesdays, for some) are the days of the week with the lowest sales. People are simply not in the mood.
How about this: Across the globe, more people die on Mondays than any other days of the week!
So, what’s the problem with Mondays?
Or does the problem really lie with our interpretation of what Monday means?
I think the answer is obvious. You see, if the problem is with Mondays, than animals and other living things would be affected in a similar way.
In other words, time does not exist except in our minds. And our minds play tricks on us if we are not conscious of them.
Here’s further evidence: Research has shown that there exists a strong link between heart disease (one of the major killers in modern society) with, get this, JOB SATISFACTION and SELF HAPPINESS (i.e they rate themselves as happy people).
More specifically, the most interesting finding from this research is that:
1. People with who displays all the risk factors of heart disease such as being over-weight, having high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels AND low job satisfaction and low happiness will usually develop a heart attack sooner and later.
However…
2. People with the same risk factors and HIGH job satisfaction and HIGH happiness will usually NOT have any heart attack nor other forms of heart disease.
Of course, this is understandable. A full-time job takes up at least 1/3 of our lives and if you spend 40 hours every week in a job that you dislike and see no future in, then that translate into mood issues (read “Monday blues”), low productivity, poor health and falling ill often, poor relationships, slow income growth, and eventually, premature death.
It’s time to make an informed choice on what an ideal career and life should be for you. Don’t wait till it’s too late.
Why Did They Teach That In School?
Jan 28th
Did you ever have this thought in mind while going through school:
WHY ARE THEY TEACHING THIS?
Well, perhaps at that moment, you didn’t think of this question since school is *supposed to be* a place where you do what you are told. Well, at least in primary school. Then, in high school, you were taught more complex and advanced stuff that it made your head spin. From this point on, you would have started to realize that much of the stuff taught in school will never ever be used in your entire life.
For me, those “stuff” will be calculus (yes, simultaneous equations, differentiation, integration, and the like), technical work (as in, metal work, wood work, handling tools, etc.), and chemistry.
Schools want to be sure that they covered all grounds (but according to who?). This type of education is “just-in-case” education.
What a grand waste of youth!
Now, on hindsight, I’d have preferred lessons on:
- Relationships (how to find my life partner, how to deal with people)
- Finance (i.e. how to earn, manage, and grow my money)
- Making good decisions and choices (i.e. how to think)
- Health and Fitness (living with energy and free from illnesses)
- Career and jobs (finding them and doing well in them)
- Emotions (how to manage them)
- How to care for and bring up children (yes, most people do want to be parents eventually)
- Sex (what to do and how to do them)
Aren’t these what we need on a daily basis as human beings?
Aren’t these more important than mathematics, history and chemistry?
Yet, why is it that school don’t teach such things at all?? And they simply leave us to figure them out ourselves by trial and error. They assume that because you have completed secondary education or tertiary education, you’d have no problems with these areas in life. Why is it that such vital life issues are treated as trivial matters by our society?
Stop at Nothing
Jan 26th
I read this little piece of news last week on The Standard in Hong Kong.
Another one of the myriad, innovative ways people, students included, are cheating in mainland China. It sure seems like they are very determined and will stop at nothing to get what is perceived to be ”must-haves” for them. How nice if such focused determination were used for more productive and progressive things.
Having taught in China now for one full year, I know that cheating is part of the culture and landscape. You simply can’t avoid it and it is widely accepted. Everybody knows it but nobody does anything about it. Some will just lament about it. Others will say, “Everyone’s doing it. Am I going to be stupid and get left behind??”
Universities have to put up posters that say, “Cheating is illegal. Don’t cheat.”
Sure, that’ll work.
Since living in Hong Kong, I have seen faked soy sauce, fake eggs, fake milk powder, fake iPhone, fake Rolex, fake LV bags, pirated DVDs… in fact, whatever it is in the world that can make money, there is always a replica made in China. This proves that “reverse engineering” is a gift and talent here which do not need much development.
How about this: The best cheating I have come across is this: Student paying Teaching Assistants to do their project for them. That’s personal outsourcing taken to the limit!
But it is not the cheating that is the root of the problem. All these cheating and copying are merely a means towards an end. Faster, that is. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. A short-cut, if you will. You will notice this often with people jumping the queue. Frowned upon in developed nations but, hey, if you don’t do it in China, you just have to wait… and wait.
I believe, the root of the problem is the need for speed. The need to earn money faster, to get qualified faster, to get promoted faster. Of course, all these with little or no effort. Is this the price to pay for rapid industrialization? For developing “too fast”?
I do think that it is a conscious collective choice that is being made. Nothing else can be or should be blamed.
I often think about this: How much better and faster China will progress if such creativity, ingenuity and energies are channeled to really and properly improve lives and the standard of living? How much more learning (and thus development and progress) will occur if such innovativeness and resourcefulness are used in the learning process? How much better they will be liked and welcomed as friends?
Post-80 saga
Jan 26th
We hear and read so much about the post-80’s generation these days. Other than the high profile “activists” in the recent rail saga, here’s one of those reports by The Standard on the psyche of Generation Y:
http://tinyurl.com/yg5wqzv
http://tinyurl.com/yhsyd23
I am Gen-X and have 2 brothers who are Gen-Y and can see clearly how we are quite different in our outlook. But should differences in outlook, emotional make-up, environmental conditioning and perspective outweigh sensibility and responsibility?
From the behaviour of the handful of Gen-Y youths with respect to the rail saga in Hong Kong, it certainly makes the community around them think so. As much as them thinking that the government is forcing their way through the village affected by the proposed express rail link construction, they have exhibited the same behaviour in their rally and protest. How could you ever end a “war” using another war? How could you end violence by using violence?
I do hope the people involved this time have realized that real power doesn’t come by force. They should be working on INFLUENCE and such an ability does not need numbers. Quite obviously, they didn’t have any clout to present much influence on the decision-making process.
Is it possible to work their way into the Legco process? Surely, this will not happen overnight but the chances of getting their ideals pushed through is way much higher that way. And that is when they’ll really be doing something for people in need.
Market Prospects 2010
Jan 25th
I often get questions such as:
“What are the employment prospects these days?”
“What are the hot industries?”
“Who is hiring?”
Employment (or unemployment) statistics are just good conversational topics but they are not worth following for your career planning.
The only employment statistic you should care about is either 0% or 100% – that is, are you employed or not.
The next question to ask is, “Are you in the job you want or not?”
So regarding market prospects for 2010, the answer is, “Why should you care?”
What you should be focusing on is your individual career. Yes, all things being equal, I would go after growing industries instead of shrinking ones.
But all things are not equal.
It is more important to know your values, skills and interests and match them with the right industry, job function and company instead of picking employers from a hat and force-fitting yourself into them.
Two tips to think about:
1. Let the market respond to your actions.
The market is invaluable in providing guidance on what your skills and qualifications are worth and how you are perceived by it.
If you are aiming for certain jobs or titles or salary levels and are not getting interviews, you need to find out if you are targeting wrongly or simply not positioning yourself properly for what you want.
Rather than reading market news and trying to incorporate that into your planning, craft your best plans and take action from there.
Then, collect market feedback specific to your actions and adjust accordingly.
Remember, if you continue to do the same thing again and again expecting a different result, you are an idiot. And believe me, a lot of people fall into this category.
2. Go for the ideal, not the available or popular.
The reality is that a career is always made up of what you bring to the table (i.e. value) and what the market will take. Don’t get me wrong, I am not dismissing the importance of what is available in the market.
But you must always keep in mind that markets change, expand and new markets emerge. So, when you look only at what’s available currently, you are not seeing the complete possibilities.
When you aim instead for what is ideal for you and look for a way to bring that to market, you include market expansion and creation in your potential outcomes.
In other words, going for the ideal gives you more opportunities.
So, if you must know what the market prospect is for 2010, you have the perfect answer – it depends on how far you are willing to go.
How’s Your GPA?
Jan 18th
Most university students I know are very concerned with their GPA. In fact, ultra concerned. To the motivated student, and especially for those who plan to further their education, the Grade Point Average is the holy grail which needs to be upheld at all costs.
However, does the GPA really say anything about a student’s academic abilities?
Let’s take a look.
In the tertiary education world, there are general 2 types of universities. One type grades students based on their academic performance according to a well defined set of performance criteria. For example, “a student will be granted an ‘A’ if the student demonstrates outstanding understanding and application of the concepts within this course. The student’s score should typically fall within the range of 85 and above.”
In simple terms, here are the standards for this course, and your grades depends on your achieving the standards. Your grades are criterion-referenced, so to speak.
The other type of university grades students based on their relative performance within the cohort. This means that there are no standards drawn out for the grading but an arbitrary bell-curve (i.e. statistical normal distribution) percentage is used.
In simple terms, a certain percentage of the cohort of students taking a course is allocated for each grade. Example, the top 10% will be given an “A”, the next 40% a “B”, the next 20% a “C”, the next 20% a “D”, and the remaining will be given an “F”.
With such a relative grading scheme, you may still get an “A” even if you scored 60/100 overall as long as your score is within the top 10% of your class. This means that your grade is given to you IN COMPARISON to your classmates. It effectively does not care about what you are really capable of since there is no independent standard drawn out. In other words, your grades are curve-referenced.
In the current tertiary education world, there are VERY FEW universities progressive enough to be criterion-referenced. Most universities are curve-referenced.
What does this mean, then?
It means that the GPA you scored in a curve-referenced university has no bearing whatsoever on your actual performance as it indicates only how you performed compared to your classmates. Simply put, you may score an “A” (i.e. GPA 4.0) but all that means is that you scored better than 90% of your class. It does not say, at all, how well you have achieved the learning objectives of the course.
Curve-reference exhibits the big-fish-in-small-pond phenomenon. It’s just like me owning a motorbike in a village where most others are using bicycles and that makes me rich.
So, my point is this: GPA in a curve-reference university doesn’t really mean much. This is why although the same term (i.e. GPA) is used throughout the world, they are not equal.
The next time you apply for university, make sure you check whether their grading system is criterion-referenced or curve-referenced.
10K in 5 minutes
Jan 4th
If you know the story of Fedex, they operate on a hub-and-spoke operations and their hub is located at Memphis. What this means is that all Fedex packages, large or small, in the US are shipped to this centre in Memphis first before going on to their destination location.
You can imagine the amount of packages that are handled on a daily basis at this distribution centre. And to handle such an amount, the technologies involved are also mind-boggling.
One morning, EVERYTHING stopped working.
There was electricity at the centre because the lights and computers in the office still worked. However, all the machinery that processed the packages simply refused to function.
The pressure is on and every minute that passed by implied ten of thousands of dollars lost.
The centre manager was almost in a state of panic and called the repairman again.
“I’m just 5 minutes away,” the repairman said.
Once the repairman arrived at the centre, he surveyed the conveyor belts and machinery.
Within a few moments, he walked over an electrical junction box in the middle of the centre, opened it, took out a screw driver from his toolbox, and turned a screw in the electrical junction box a quarter of an inch.
Immediately, everything started working again.
“Wow, you saved my life!” the centre manager said. “How much do I owe you?”
The repairman said, “Ten thousand dollars.” (US$, mind you)
“What??! You were barely here for 5 minutes and it costs US$10,000??”, the centre manager exclaimed.
“OK, please give me an itemized bill so that I know the breakdown of the US$10,000,” he continued.
“Sure,” the repairman said, took out a pen and a piece of paper, wrote on it and gave it to the centre manager.
The centre manager looked at the note, smiled, walked into his office and brought back US$10,000 in cash and paid the repairman.
In the note, it says:
“Turning screw: US$1″
“Knowing which screw to turn: US$9,999.”
A lot of times, we look at successful people and high achievers and think that they are just lucky. Sometimes, we even think that their jobs are so simple and easy that we can do them for just half their pay.
Just like the US$10,000 that the repairman charged, turning the screw is the act that most people see and, indeed, it is a simple thing to do and you don’t need a degree to do it.
However, to know which screw to turn within a short period of time that will solve the problem, the repairman would have taken years of discipline, training, practice, mistakes, errors and more importantly, learning and improving.These are the effort and experience that people cannot see. Yet, without them, the problem cannot never be solved.
We will be successful only if we learn all the time – when we do things well AND when we make mistakes.
In this new year, make a fresh start by always daring to try new things and learn from them. Never be afraid to make mistakes or be concerned with what other people may say or think.
They are not living your life. You are.
I want an iPhone 3GS
Dec 17th
My sister-in-law and her family visited my family over a weekend last month and we had a good time catching up. Her son, Ryan, is 11 years-old this year and although I have known him since his birth and have even taken care of him for a short spell 4 years ago, he is growing up to be his own man and, entering his teenage years, he now tends not to enjoy adult conversation nor company.
Ryan spent most of the entire visit glued to my laptop computer that was in the living room where everyone was. I would peek at what he was doing occasionally (mainly to ensure he was not messing up my files) and found him on the Apple Computer website.
Specifically, he was on the iPhone pages of the Apple website.
Before I knew it, he interrupted the adults who were happily chatting away over coffee.
“Mom, look! The iPhone 3GS is so thin and it’s so cool!”
Three minutes later, he shouted again, “Mom, the 3GS can take videos and upload them to YouTube! Isn’t that something?”
Another 5 minutes later, he exclaimed, “Mom, there is voice command for the 3GS! Wow!”
This time, his mother responded, “Ryan, you don’t need an iPhone. I’m not buying one for you. You already have a mobile phone.”
It turned out that Ryan had been bugging his mother over the past week to get him the latest iPhone 3GS. And when I asked him why he needed an iPhone, he said, “Everyone in school has one and it’s really cool” to which I responsed, “Ryan, the iPhone cannot make you cool. Only you can.”
Of course, Ryan didn’t understand what I meant and he also didn’t get the iPhone 3GS he coveted.
From this little episode, it reminded me of the way most of us try to persuade, influence and convince others of something – in other words, our “selling” strategy.
And guess what? Job-hunting is a “selling” process whether you like it or not.
Most people think that the best way to sell is to do what Ryan did – promote the features of the product or service: The iPhone is thin, it can take videos, access the internet, and issue commands via voice, etc.
In job-hunting terms, most people promote ONLY their features thinking that those will sell: Their degree(s), work experience, internship experience, special skills, awards, extra-curricular activities, community service, professional memberships, etc.
Just like Ryan’s mother, the features of the iPhone 3GS meant nothing to her. They may be cool to Ryan but they do not appeal to his mother at all. In fact, an iPhone is expensive to buy and to maintain, especially for an 11 year-old.
Remember: To an employer, you are always on the right-hand end of this simple equation:
Profit = Revenue – Cost
To make business sense, you will only be hired IF:
1. You are affordable (i.e. low cost), and
2. You can generate sufficient value (or revenue) to cover the cost of employing you (i.e. high benefits).
And so, your features may be cool to you, but they will only be cool to the employer IF and ONLY IF they can generate benefits to the employer.
In order to sell successfully to employers, you must approach from the BENEFIT angle: How exactly will the employer benefit from having you on the team? What value can you bring.
No doubt, features can be part of the selling process to provide support for the benefits but features should never be the main focus.
Remember: We don’t buy features. We buy only benefits.
When Ryan understands this, he will be in time to get an iPhone 3GS for Christmas.
Sit On Your Hands
Dec 9th
Ever so often, I get asked questions like this one,
“Ethan, I attend your workshops and I really enjoyed and learned a lot from them. But if everyone used the tips and techniques that you taught, there will no longer be any competitive advantage doing so, isn’t it?”
Yes, of course it is true!
It is true that the mindsets, perspectives and techniques that I teach cannot serve as a source of competitive advantage *IF* everyone used them.
You see, the keyword is “IF”.
The fact remains that few people take action on the knowledge and skills that they have.
Just take a look around you. How many students graduate from universities around the world each year?
Having that degree means that they have completed more than 16 years of formal education, is it not? It also means that they are equipped with some really cool knowledge and skills, is it not?
And why, oh why, is it that although they are armed to the teeth with knowledge and skills, so few of them are really successful in their career and life??
[Side note: In fact, a good percentage of people who are considered successful in our societies today are without degrees. I personally know a number of them.]
The answer is simple: Because they don’t put what they have learned to use.
Many of them, and I hope you are not one of them, are taught that, in this information-age-knowledge-economy, knowledge is power.
This can’t be more wrong.
Knowledge is only *potential* power. If you don’t put that knowledge to use, it will only sit in the books and on the backseat of your mind and can never be powerful.
Only ACTION is power.
To cause something to change, to move, to improve, to work, there MUST BE ACTION. That’s why people who can put knowledge to appropriate use are said to be wise.
Only the top 5% of the students who come to my training workshops will take action on what they have learned. As such, these are the same 5% who will be successful in their careers and lives.
So, if you would decide and commit to applying what you’ve learned to your life, you would be amongst the top 5% of the entire population. The other 95% will still not have a clue what their lives are about and where they are heading.
Guess what? You will have close to ZERO competition and, thus, all the advantages needed. So, let’s not worry at this point in time what will happen IF everyone used the techinques that I taught. Such a question is a good academic question of no practical value.
My point is this: There is no point gaining more and more knowledge. Start taking action on the knowledge and skills that you have acquired and continue to learn from that point forth. This, then, is the mark of a wise and successful person.
Question for you: What action will you be taking today? Or are you going to wait for the 9 planets in our solar system to align first? : )
How to destroy relationships
Dec 1st
My mother-in-law (MIL) recently came to Hong Kong to visit as we have a new member added to the family.
Over dinner, she rattled off in a monologue talking about her stock market investments although she has no idea how it works, the fitness centre she was coaxed to joined, how over-weight she was, how she shouldn’t eat sweet things but can’t control herself, how expensive the personal fitness coaching fees are, how her friends are telling her to sell her apartment to make a quick buck in this bull market, how she bought a minibook computer but have no idea how to use it, and how she lost it within a week. She also lamented about her two dogs who are ill-disciplined and prone to sickness.
I could practically not say a word throughout the entire “conversation” and simply utter, “Uhuh…uhuh…” intermittently.
You see, MIL is retired and she did so before she turned 60.
Every time I see MIL, I am always reminded of two things:
1. What I do not want my retirement to be.
In my opinion, MIL is just surviving. She’s not living at all. Her life is mundane and driven by what other people say. In other words, BORING. In fact, her life has no direction and I suspect this will be the case until the day she is gone.
Is this what life is about? Is this what retirement is about? Work all your life just to get to get to the point of being “purposeless”?
I don’t know about you but I have decided not to ever retire. You see, “RETIRE” means “To get TIRED all over again” to me. No way! Instead, I prefer to “RE-TYRE” myself – This means I would want to “change new tyres” to try news things, see new places, live a new life!
2. How to destroy rapport and relationships with even the people I love.
The quickest way to break rapport with someone is to focus on yourself and talk nothing about yourself.
It is obvious that MIL didn’t care about my family and me at all. All she cared about is herself and she was too busy telling us about her life instead of asking about us.
If you want your relationships to grow, always remember to ask questions and then, listen more than you speak.
You will realize that this principle applies not only to your personal life but to all relationships in your work life and career as well.
This is perhaps one of the reasons why we have 2 ears and only one mouth. Haha…