Speech: Saint Andrew’s Secondary School Prefect Commendation 2011 – 25th Feb 2011

Good morning Bishop John Tan, the Saint Andrew’s Board of Governors, Principal
Mrs Lucy Toh, Vice Principal Mr Goh Boon Pin, invited guests, parents, teachers and
fellow Saints.

Thank you for this opportunity to be your guest speaker for this sacred event and it is
indeed my greatest pleasure to share the following news...

Yes, I’ve both good news and bad news today... And being the square peg in the
round hole that I’ve always been, please let me first share with you the bad news.
And that is, “There is no such thing as a perfect leader.”

There is no such thing as a perfect prefect either.

Only God is perfect. So don't kill yourself trying to do so.

However, the good news is that “we can all learn to be authentic leaders.” To be
an authentic leader is to be whom we really are... To be an authentic leader is to be
firm, fair, friendly and flexible... To be an authentic leader is to be someone who
learns from feedback and apologizes when the need arises.

Now, it was nearly 14 years ago that I stood at that pedestal... declaring the prefect's
charter out loud.

And it had been a great journey from that eventful day until today. I faced many ups
and downs in my career and personal life. And ultimately it was the "downs" in my
life that moulded me to what and whom I am today. As I continue to grow as an
authentic leader, I learned that I must find my strengths to overcome my weaknesses;
I learned that walls were placed in my path to test how badly I wanted to reach my
goals because I would climb over or go around these walls to reach my goals; I
learned that by making the right move, I would be able to achieve anything I set my
heart, mind and soul to. Because whatever my mind conceives, my body achieves.

So even as you are seated in the pews today, I want you all to raise your index finger
and place it on your right temple. Tap gently and ask yourself out loud, "What is my
next MOVE?" One more time, "What is my next MOVE?"

Let me now share with you what your MOVE may be in order to start growing as an
authentic leader.
How do you spell MOVE? That's right. M... O... V ... E

1) M: Motivation.
Being motivated is to find that desire to continue to do what you want to do. Is it
peer pressure or parents? Is it your own drive to always achieve excellence? Is it
passion for something? And so how do you stay motivated in what you do?
By finding the reason or the “why”, in doing things.

Once you find the WHY, you’ve effectively found the fuel to push yourself when the
chips are down. Once something becomes worthwhile to you, you would be able to
climb all obstacles to reach your goals. Is it the smile on your parents’ face? Is it the
thought of being the first to reach the finishing line? Is it because you want your
grandparents to be proud of you?

I knew a clerk who created a superb computing programme that enabled us to input
and analyse loads of data and it won an award for great productivity. I asked him,
“What led you to come up with this efficient programme?” He shrugged his shoulders
and replied, “I was lazy, and didn’t want to go through so much paper work.”
What motivates me to enrich people’s lives? Freedom. Because I want people to
see that they too can achieve something that they never thought they could do, and
in doing so achieve freedom.

Some critics say, “But motivation doesn’t last!” Well... neither does bathing. That’s
why motivation is recommended daily. Be obsessed with your WHY. Paste your
whole room with your objectives and what motivates you! Set reminders in your hand
phone! Write it down on your books!

Authentic leaders are able to constantly motivate themselves daily because
they know the WHY in what they do. Since different people have different
reasons for their “why”, your challenge would be to find that out fast.

2) O: Objective.
Every successful person reached where they are because they started with a vision,
and then they took concrete steps to reach it. How many of you use Face book?
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Face book didn’t become the youngest billionaire in
the world by accident. He had an objective, and that was to give people the power to
share and make the world more open and connected.

My SAJC civics tutor told my class we would never find a job when we graduated
because we were in the arts faculty and Singapore was facing its worst recession in
1999. He was right. We could never find a job because as creative people, we
created businesses for ourselves.

Do you know who JJ Lin is? Well he was my
SAJC classmate for the first 3 months, and he didn’t want a job. He created his own
life because he knew his objective, and that was to be a famous singer.
What is your objective or goals in your life now? And it better be more worthwhile
than watering your crops in Farmville.

If you already have an objective set for the year, good for you. If you don’t have any
objective, one way to start is to look at what you are good in currently. Everyone has
a talent. If you think if you have more talents, you are right. If you think you don’t
have one, you don’t. Either way, you will live into your story. Now, you may be
wondering why people do such a thing to themselves. And that’s because all of us
have a built in mechanism which always gives us “excuses” such as “you
are not good enough, you are worthless, don’t think you are so smart...”

Do you think a monkey ever thinks that it doesn’t have enough talents and decide
not to swing from tree to tree to search for food? NOPE! Because it’s only humans
like you and I who always find excuses for ourselves! It could be our parents telling
us, “don’t waste your time doing this... just study...” and it could even be us seeing
someone who failed before and we get scared.

Whatever it is, if you believe in these “excuses” that you created, you will not be able to dream up of any worthwhile objectives for yourself, and you will lead your life
trying to fulfil the dreams of others. Replace these negative thoughts with positive
ones!

And so as authentic leaders, know that you are worthy and talented. Create
objectives to fulfil by using your gifts, so that your life becomes purposeful.

3) V: Value Adding.
My mentor told me that at birth, he was worth 2 tins of Milo, 4 trays of eggs and 6
cans of luncheon meat. His mother didn't want him because he was the 3rd boy of 3
children. She wanted a daughter. So she wanted to sell him. When his mother
shared this story to him many years later, he vowed to increase his own value by
becoming a business man.

What about you? What is your value? Is it the 65 marks that you got for your
geography paper last year? Is it the 80 marks that you got for Design & Technology?
Partly. All these results are merely your output in what you studied so hard for. Or in
some of you… so little for.

Don’t fret, because these short term results are not who you truly are. These results
are a snapshot of what you can produce within 2 hours. It’s just one dimension of a
human being. The academic dimension. You still have your physical, mental,
spiritual and sociological dimension to explore.

Some of you may really love gaming. Some of you may really love sports. So how?
By being the best that you can ever be! How many of you all really understand what
“up and on”, our school motto really means? It means that we must “Rise Up to any
Occasion” and to be “On the ball” all the time! This is the mentality of authentic
leaders and champions!

But by doing well in our academic dimension, we are practising and learning
discipline in everything we are doing, and will do in the future. Because how we do
anything is how we do everything. If you find that you want to be the fastest winger in the rugby team, you train harder than anyone else. If you find that you want
to do well in your papers, you study smarter by focusing on what you don’t
understand, and asking the teachers.

So be the thermostat instead of being the thermometer. A thermometer merely
measures the temperature of the surroundings. In other words, you follow the crowd.
If you are a thermostat, you set the temperature in the room or region. In other words,
you innovate, and people follow you.

I have the opportunity to spend large segments of time in airports because I travel
frequently. I always see people rushing from point A to point B. I find it incredible that
so many people devote their whole lives to other fields of endeavours that others
tasked them to do, and yet not to their own natural talent and gifts within them.
Be the unique person that you are meant to be.

Therefore as authentic leaders, add your own value by constantly expanding
your knowledge so that you become consistently good in what you do.

4) E: Execution.
Just do it.
Since everything that we see is a result and results are an output. It is brought about
by first having vision and then massive action. So what this means is that even if you
have the vision but no action, you will never achieve it. But if you have the vision,
and start action, you will be on your way. Even if you meet with setbacks, these are
all just feedback, because there are no such things as failure, only feedback. For
example, a trashy mid-year examination result doesn’t mean the end of the world. It
shouldn’t devalue you as a human.

I should know that. I had to drink tea with my principal Mrs Belinda Charles, while as the SAJC Arts Faculty Leader.

The important thing here is that you must learn from the feedback and not repeat.
Because if you do the same things over and over again and expect different results,
you must be insane.

You know what Saints... Heck it. Just do it. Authentic leaders just do it, and
don’t wait around waiting for things to happen. You make it happen.

So this is it, M.O.V.E, Motivation, Objectives, Value Adding and Execution. This
move has brought me to where I am and will continue to assist me as I advance in
my life goals. I sincerely hope that change will come to you all as well as you
remember this MOVE.

So please raise your index finger and place it on your right temple once again. Tap
gently and tell yourself out loud, “I know my next MOVE!”

Up and On!
Thank You

Mark Chew,
Business Developer, Leadership Coach,
Author of “Discover Your Leadership Style”
25th Feb 2011
Saint Andrew's Cathedral

MOTIVATION, THE HEART OF SELF IMPROVEMENT Part 2 of 2

Hi everyone, I'm back again.

Here's the next post from N to Z. Enjoy!

N – Never lie, cheat or steal. Always play a fair game.

O – Open your eyes. People should learn the horse attitude and horse sense. They see things in 2 ways – how they want things to be, and how they should be.

P – Practice makes perfect. Practice is about motivation. It lets us learn repertoire and ways on how can we recover from our mistakes.

Q – Quitters never win. And winners never quit. So, choose your fate – are you going to be a quitter? Or a winner?

R – Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. We must hear the little voice within us telling us to get started before others will get on their feet and try to push us around. Remember, it wasn’t raining when Noah build the ark.

S – Stop procrastinating.

T – Take control of your life. Discipline or self control jives synonymously with motivation. Both are key factors in self improvement.

U – Understand others. If you know very well how to talk, you should also learn how to listen. Yearn to understand first, and to be understood the second.

V – Visualize it. Motivation without vision is like a boat on a dry land.

W – Want it more than anything. Dreaming means believing. And to believe is something that is rooted out from the roots of motivation and self improvement.

X – X Factor is what will make you different from the others. When you are motivated, you tend to put on “extras” on your life like extra time for family, extra help at work, extra care for friends, and so on.

Y – You are unique. No one in this world looks, acts, or talks like you. Value your life and existence, because you’re just going to spend it once.

Z – Zero in on your dreams and go for it!!!


Ok that's it!

cheers,
Mark

MOTIVATION, THE HEART OF SELF IMPROVEMENT Part 1 of 2

Pain may sometimes be the reason why people change. Getting flunked grades make us realize that we need to study. Debts remind us of our inability to look for a source of income. Being humiliated gives us the ‘push’ to speak up and fight for ourselves to save our face from the next embarrassments. It may be a bitter experience, a friend’s tragic story, a great movie, or an inspiring book that will help us get up and get just the right amount of motivation we need in order to improve ourselves.

With the countless negativities the world brings about, how do we keep motivated? Try on the tips I prepared from A to Z… but too long right? haha.. so In this post I'll share from A to M, watch out for the next post from N to Z!

A - Achieve your dreams. Avoid negative people, things and places. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

B - Believe in your self, and in what you can do.

C – Consider things on every angle and aspect. Motivation comes from determination. To be able to understand life, you should feel the sun from both sides.

D – Don’t give up and don’t give in. Thomas Edison failed once, twice, more than thrice before he came up with his invention and perfected the incandescent light bulb. Make motivation as your steering wheel.

E – Enjoy. Work as if you don’t need money. Dance as if nobody’s watching. Love as if you never cried. Learn as if you’ll live forever. Motivation takes place when people are happy.

F – Family and Friends – are life’s greatest ‘F’ treasures. Don’t loose sight of them.

G – Give more than what is enough. Where does motivation and self improvement take place at work? At home? At school? When you exert extra effort in doing things.

H – Hang on to your dreams. They may dangle in there for a moment, but these little stars will be your driving force.

I – Ignore those who try to destroy you. Don’t let other people to get the best of you. Stay out of toxic people – the kind of friends who hates to hear about your success.

J – Just be yourself. The key to success is to be yourself. And the key to failure is to try to please everyone.

K – keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. When a person is motivated, eventually he sees a harsh life finally clearing out, paving the way to self improvement.
L – Learn to love your self. Now isn’t that easy?

M – Make things happen. Motivation is when your dreams are put into work clothes.

ok, that's all for today, be sure to catch the rest of the alphabets in the next post!

cheers,
Mark