Reviving, working, developing

It's been almost ten years since I last made an entry here. Much had happened and particularly for this year 2020! The year is coming to an end but by no means it's over. I mean, the pandemic. Singapore has just announced Phase Three in dealing with the virus. Vaccines will be made available for Singaporeans and even permanent residents for free. 2021 looks set to be a year of recovery. We will have to see. 

 

I should have logged in here earlier and resume my musing. But laziness is simply an excuse. Here I am back and planning to be here weekly if not a little more frequent. Looking forward to your interaction. 

Writers, poets and sone-writers are able to publish their works because they are disciplined to get down to writing. Many attempts later and many sheets of papers must have been dumped or many pages deleted from their word processors. The fact is they kept at it. It might not be perfect. It might not even be of publishable quality. But it represents attempts, tries, and dogged discipline. 

 So, here I am. Reviving a discipline, working on a streak, developing a pattern. See you next week.

Hiring or Recruiting

In one of his classic posts, Seth Godin highlighted the difference between hiring and recruiting. He said,
"Hiring is what you do when you let the world know that you're accepting applications from people looking for a job.
Recruiting is the act of finding the very best person for a job and persuading them to stop doing what they're doing and come join you.
Hiring is easy and fast and is basically a retail operation.
Recruiting is artful and slow and is essentially a direct marketing effort.
Recruiting raises the bar because it demands you have a job worth quitting for. The recruiter doesn't solve an urgent problem for the person being recruited, in fact, they create one. That person already has a job (hence no problem). The problem being created is that until they change over to your job, they'll be unhappy. That's a huge hurdle for a job to overcome, which leads to this key question:
Is your job opening so good you could recruit great people for it?
If not, perhaps you need to work on that."
I really like this. I had to ask myself, "was I recruited or hired into the job I am in now?"
I know the answer and I am glad for it.

The Law of Gravity

We have always made the assumption that Isaac Newton invented the law of gravity. He didn't. Gravity has been in existence since the earth was formed. Newton merely by the process of accretion (growth by gradual addition) understood and came to the conclusion and put it down in a kind of mathematical formula of how gravity works. Did the apple actually fall on his head? Was he actually hit and *viola" the law was born? Probably not.
However, Newton was curious and observant. He did observe a variety of things going on around him. He watched the universe and how things moved. It was by no accident that he discovered how gravity works.
In the same way, it is no accident that many had become geniuses or creative. It is in these people who were curious and observant of things around them and had an interest in them. That sense of inquisitiveness led them to conclusions and discoveries.
You too, can be creative and become a genius.

Learn how to say NO!

There's a law against drivers who talk on their cell phones while driving here but the problem hasn't gotten to crisis level yet. Unlike in countries where highways and expressways are norm. There had been just too many accidents caused by "cell phones distraction," they call it. There are just too many who had been addicted to their gadgets, even while driving. There are also others who can't help themselves. So technology companies try to solve the problem caused by technology ... by technology with more technology.
This is not the best and only solution. Technology can only help so much.
The solution has to be with ourselves, the users of technology.
This brings us to the whole issue of learning how to say NO! And at the same time, when to say YES! It has to be a willful decision that is to be carried by action. Knowing what we should do is not good enough. It should be a decisive action that brings that "should" to action. Yet, for some, the excuse would be, "I don't know how!" This is simply an excuse. Knowhow can be learnt and then that completes the cycle of learning how to say No! and when to say Yes!

Values

During the Q&A session at the end of an interview with George Foreman, he was asked about the top three values he wanted to impart to his (10) kids, yes, he has ten. His answer was:

- Get up early in the morning.
- Take advice and listen.
- Strive to be the nicest human being ever.

Kevin Eikenberry commented: "These clearly aren't just thoughts valuable for children. Think about how these sound advice can both apply to us and those that we coach, mentor and lead."

I wonder, if you were to ask the same questions, what would you say you will impart to your children? What would you impart to those you strive to influence?