A not so bright Sunday morning, a good time to reflect… since I have not blogged for almost a month already. This month was really packed, as it was not only expected but it actually was, and dang it, I am tired, but not satisfied.
First I would like to talk about BAOC (Biz school Orientation Camp), 1 month of meetings, hard work and sweat and exploration of how a society functions. I joined as a Sub Committee member and had to do a lot of work, work that is kinda time consuming and somewhat a waste of time sometimes. I have learnt many things though, a good learning experience I must say. Firstly, it is always good to join some new association, society or organization because it is a real eye opener. The best part is getting to meet new people, make new friends and cherish those friends. Of course, you expect to find nice friends and most of the time you would, and I did, especially those in the sub com. All of them were very nice but of course, not all the time. There were some hiccups however nice we were with each other, but that was only during work time when we had to start, do and complete a certain task. After that, every one was fine, especially when we hang out together, so no problems at all. Secondly, I found out that it isn’t easy to become a follower, especially when the leaders are not up to the mark. That goes back to expectations and decisions made. I wouldn’t expect the leaders to be the best of the best, but at least they should take our (sub comms) comments into consideration and maybe act on it or at least tell us it is not right and how we could make it better. Rarely did I see that happening, but it’s ok, just that we had to do more work and suffer more. Some things could be done but was not done. Well, at least I know that next time I cannot be like that, must always keep my subordinates in mind, my juniors in mind and actually think and feel for them before assigning a task, it must be a quick decision also, but thoughtful consideration comes first. Another thing I learn is about communication. Now, this is like the most important thing in delivering messages or making people realize and take in your point. I feel that HOW you communicate, not WHAT you communicate is more important. You can say “I love you” with a asshole face and rowdy tone and it will be of no meaning, or you can say “I love you” with puppy eyes, a smile and a heart warming tone of voice, huge difference to the receiver of that msg. Another example is trying to get someone to do something faster and don’t complain, you could say “could you pls hurry up a little and work well with him” instead of “ oi, faster la, and stop complaining”. It angers people to hear the second line doesn’t it. Haha enough examples, I think you all should get what I mean. According to Jim Rohn, Leadership is the power to INFLUENCE not the power of your position or authority. How your INFLUENCE? To Inspire.. Entice.. not threaten or intimidate. Leadership is a tricky business; you not only have to be careful of it, but also be skilled at it. One other thing is appreciation, I din see much appreciation for the work I have done, not much though there were hints of it. Maybe it is because I usually show my gratitude and appreciation and expect ppl to do the same for me as respect and courtesy but no, din see much and was quite disappointed, that’s something people should learn, appreciate and people will not only see you in a better light, but in fact, both you and the other will feel better, and the day is much brighter in the light of thanks! All in all, I think everyone was stressed and that compromised a lot on the decision making and leadership, though it shouldn’t be an excuse but I did understand that and also forgave certain people on certain things they did. Those are the main things I learnt, when I was in a position of a sub comm, a follower. At least BAOC was a big success and everything (not 100%), went as smoothly as it could have and ended with a BANG. For me, with loads of new friends and I love that and them! Thank you to the team who worked with me, seniors and all ppl similar. Good for those who felt like BA soc was a family to them, long time since I have felt that but yea, I din in this experience, due to many many reasons.
Now for Part II, Ok I think that’s a long enough reflection for BAOC, though it can be longer and I can cite many other examples from which I learnt things from but it’s ok, got other things to talk about, namely WORLDVIEW 360, a competition cum learning event organized by Southwest CDC aimed at Post Secondary Youths to experience and know more about social and community involvement. I think it was one of the shortest yet very fulfilling camp cum competitions I ever had. I entered it to learn new things and know more about social entrepreneurship and meet new friends. I indeed made new and great friends of not only my age group but some older ones as well. We were grouped into groups of about 6 people, with everyone coming from different backgrounds, a mixture of people from ITE, Polys and JCs. The task in hand was to do up a business proposal based on the topics of elderly, low income families, disabled, ex-offenders and the environment and it must be related in the Singapore context, one that is viable in our homeland. There was a slight catch, everyone did not know anything about writing proposals, esp business ones and we only had 1 week to complete it. First, there was preparation and team building session at Sarimbun Scouts Camp during 1 weekend (2 weeks ago), quite a desolated and ulu place. We were spilt up into groups and had to bond with some games throughout the first day. By the 1st day and we really felt comfortable with each other as we got to know each other better in that short period filled with fun filled activities, enjoyed the campfire the most. We also got to know which topic we were going to do; my group was assigned Environment, the hardest topic to relate to the Singapore context in my opinion. Anyways, for day 2 we had talks and more talks, from intro to social enterprise, idea generation and experiences and experts say on SE. Martin, the exec director of Halogen Foundation (leadership-training group for schooling kids, a social enterprise) was the most impactful and a great great speaker who knows how to joke and relate his message to the audience in a zestful and high energy manner that is so invigorating. Oh yea, did I mention that the food was great. Since the CDC is under the govt, their budget must be extravagant, so they could spend generously on food, every meal was nice, even breakfast. Another interesting segment during the “camp” was a Poverty Dinner, we were spilt up to the higher class and lower class of the world, I was in the lower class which was like majority of the world that were in poverty and had to sit on the floor and munch on sweet potato. An act by drama club of ACJC depicted the troubled lives of those living in poverty while the rich get richer and can afford many things beyond the imagination of those living in poverty. Well, acted out and was impactful too. Cheers to that. My Group mates, Lynn, Geetha, Irah, Nigel and Bernard and Facilitators were Simin and Faris who were really a fun and highly capable bunch to be with, most of us were quite quiet at first but as we were suppose to do the project (proposal) together, we had to talk somehow and we did. We had to meet up a couple too many of times at J8 Macs to think of an idea and build a proposal on it. Of course, all of us aimed to win the competition. Our Idea was a social enterprise that helps educate children on environment and to instill a recycling mentality in them, to make recycling a habit in their lives. In order to do so, we came up with educating them through creative art using recyclable materials. An indirect but quite effective approach we thought. Moreover, it could be integrated and offered as an art elective in primary and secondary schools, lower secondary of course. Yea, that’s just a brief outline of what our idea was. So we painstakingly took time off in the evenings to meet up abt 3 times the previous week to finish up the proposal. I must say, it wasn’t totally well done because 1. We did not seek help from our Corporate Mentor, by which we should have, 2. Our facilitators were not free to meet us to even talk about our idea and maybe also inject some ideas. So my group was kinda independent in that sense. So yea, was quite pessimistic in getting through to the next round, esp when we wrote a 2 page report when we COULD HAVE actually written more than that, just tt we thought we HAD to stick to 2 pages, saddened by that grr. Then this week, which just passed, was filled with talks and presentation for our proposal. True enough, we did not get into the top 3 who had a chance to win $1500, $1000 and $500. Still, we were chosen to do up the booth on Saturday (yesterday) for the exhibition and event at Harbour Front Centre. Sian sia, we only had one day, for the booth part I din help out much, sorry to all on my part, and thanks all. Yestday was the super super uber funnest funnest day for this whole worldview 360 thing. We were stuck in HFC from morning till night but every hour we had activities. We had to do up the booth, get people to vote for the booth, get to talk and mingle with some dua taos ( ministers and entrepreneurs who came down to judge and and view the top 3 teams). Then I was stupid or smart enough to take part in the Endurance competition for the sake of a 19 inch $3000 LCD tv screen. We had to hold a plastic world view board for a few hours or as long as we possibly could. It started easy by holding the board at our necks, then break after 1 hr. The second hour, we were required to hold it in front of us with our hands 90 degrees straight and we cannot bend it at all times from our bodies. Then halfway through, a bottle of 350ml water was hooked onto it. After 2 hrs there was another break. Ok, I lasted through that 2 hours, so it was fine. Then from the 3rd hour onwards, same thing, just that more bottles were added gradually. We started with 14 people and it came down to about 6 odd then 3 left. A petite girl from NP also, named Liping (from the worldview Org Comm), Fauzi, some guy from the street who had muscles bigger than mine and Me, skinny Kelvin. Then, after 3 hrs+, din keep track of the time cause I was focusing on winning, Liping fell out. It was down to Fauzi and skinny Kelvin. More and more bottles were added, ended up with 4 bottles, now the board weight was more than 2 kg, and it was after 4 hrs. Things were much much tougher from the 2nd bottle onwards and my hands were really very tired, but I wanted to win, so I pushed myself to the limit, playing a mental game of win win win all the time. The hardest part was the starting of each session (after certain short breaks of 2 mins), but after 15 mins ur hand gets numbed and ur body tells u to give up. Good fucks, I din give up, so I was the last 2. But finally, after 4 hrs ++, my hands gave way after the board bent (think cause I was pressing it in too much) and finally I was disqualified and the other fella who was physically stronger, Won, shit, but good for him though. I kept telling myself I am a winner I am a winner throughout that whole process, thinking of winning, diverting the physical pain using mental fitness and confidence that put my mind over the matter of weight and endurance. Realised, I am quite sick also, this sorta thing I can put in my hardest effort, till my physical limit broke, but I cant stay up till late at night to even start and complete my homework. Sick fuck I am. Anyways, now I will think of this experience and use it to remind myself to complete my work before I go sleep, guess it’s pain worth going through and a totally unforgettable experience of shear gut, perseverance and telling myself that “you can do it”. Ahha I am not even sad that I lost the 3K$ tv, happy because I can use this experience to remind myself, that’s all I wanted in my heart truly and honestly, the winning of the tv of course would have been an incentive. The intrinsic value of doing that challenge was far more fulfilling than winning the tv, though winning it would be better la! Just that now my hand damn pain, ok la, just a few more days and muscles grow bigger, tt’s another good thing! OK, I would like to thank all my team mates who had been such great people during these 2 weeks, being so dedicated and committed to do this project well, being responsible and all, that makes u all really great people. Love you all yea! Hope to meet up with them for an outing or smthng, just to catch up and all, maintaining contact.
For the third part, I would firstly like to apologize about my “disappearance” and lower commitment to the Leo Club because of the above 2 activities that have taken up most of my after school and holiday time for the past 6 weeks. Then, I know there are some problems with the club because of a certain mistake made by certain people. All I can say on my part is, I was super blur also, did not question that mistake made by certain people, but it’s ok, now I know what to do in the future. The saga is still on, so I dun wanna comment much about it, after it ends then I comment.
Thanks for reading,
Kelvin (Just Do It, Impossible is really a wimp, beat the fuck outta him!)
Updated@4/29/2007 03:51:00 PM
Updated@4/06/2007 06:18:00 PM