Think Big Think Big!

What a July yea...

I recently read a book by Donald Trump, "Think Big".
It's a very good book. and it's worth reading. Humans need to think big. BIG.

I know a lot of us had heard of this "井底之蛙", or "Frog in a well". It simply says that the frog concludes that the sky is only as big as the size of the well. But when he finally came out of the well, he really see a big sky.

Reading into it deeper, many of us here are really a "Frog in a well", although many of us claimed we are not. I am one also. People like to generalise things too much. When they see something as it is, they will see it as it is. Like the frog, from the well he determine how big the sky is. And whenever another frog ask him "How big the sky is?", he will say,"as big as my well."

When people see others winning big money fast from 'Toto/4D', they think that it is easy to win money this way. Alright, they may won a few thousands. But they didn't count how much money they have put in, before they have won the money. Often or not, they usually pay more than they win.

Recent recession causes many banks to go bankrupt. Then, a journalist from Straits Time published a article, " Less students are applying for Local Uni Business Courses. " The journalist just did his job of reporting facts and statistics, probably from university applications. But what about the students applying? There are a lot of interesting quotes or comments from students...

"The banking industry is not secure anymore"
"My brother just graduated with a business degree from a local uni, and couldn't find a job."
"My parents say that the next hottest industry will be Hospitality & Tourism, as the IR is coming up next, and so I'm getting a degree on that."
"Science general degrees are still the best. With a general degree, I can choose to become a banker, or I can go and be a Maths teacher with MOE."

Hahahahahahahaha....

When I see these comments, I just can't stop laughing at how Naive, Short-sighted our young generation are. Let's analyse these comments one by one...

"Banking industry not secure anymore."

There are indeed many banks collapse during this recession, biggest being the Lehmann Brothers. However, this doesn't mean the whole industry is going bankrupt!. It is just these few companies who didn't handle their problems well. Remember the days when milk products from China contain melamine? It's the milk products from CHINA that has problems, and not the whole Milk Industry that is collapsing!. People like to look at failures to determine their opinions. China has problems with their milk, and all their factories are closed down. But other milk production companies are still doing well yea! That explains... Only the Fittest Survive.

"My brother just graduated with a business degree from a local uni, and couldn't find a job."

Ok. Your brother just graduated with a business degree. But that is just the sentence reported in the news. It did not state his grade, his attitude, his records, his overall GPA, his character, his soft-skills, such as leadership, his experience... many more! So who on earth know who your brother is, except you and your family? And so, people are using this 'example' as saying business degree students couldn't find a job. It would be very superficial, and naive to use this example to determine whether to take up a business course or not.

"My parents say that the next hottest industry will be Hospitality & Tourism, as the IR is coming up next, and so I'm getting a degree on that."

Yup. Singapore will be having an Integrated Resort, with 2 casinos. And people say there will be a very big market for this. So, what would be a better choice? Working in a very 'hot' industry, or invest in companies of the 'hot' industry? Alot of people see the next 'big thing' coming up, and so they want to work in there. But they do not see further. Working in 'Hotter' industry means higher demand for workers, means greater competition, means stiffer challenges. So when people work there, they need to be indespensible, if not they can get replaced anytime! Since everybody also want to get into the 'hot' industry. But as an investment, it's different! 'hot' industry will create higher demand for the products or services, and higher income flow, and hence more money generated in their pockets.

Another thing is listening to parents before making own decisions. I'm not saying parent's comments are useless, but I'm referring if valuable information are given. If his parents are some economic professors who have successfully predicted trends for the past 10-20 years, then ya!, their comments are very valuable. If not, it's hardly valuable.

"Science general degrees are still the best. With a general degree, I can choose to become a banker, or I can go and be a Maths teacher with MOE."

Hahaha... has anyone done that before? What do I say this... This person has no direction in mind what he want in his life. He make his decisions based on external factors. He's putting all his control of his life on external factors. So if he can he will become banker, if not he become teacher, if not... den what he become? He doesn't know what he want.

Example... this person is travelling out of Jurong. If the person wants to go Changi, he may have used the PIE. Because, he knows his destination will be at Changi, and PIE is faster. But if this person do not know where he is going, but just wan to get out of Jurong, he would have landed himself in many places. Even if he drive through PIE, he will have enter many exits, to the North, South, den enter some places, den back to PIE again, den enter some exits again... 'cause he doesn't know where he want to land at. By the time he has stopped, he realise he has wasted alot of time. The time can be short, a few years, or 10-20 years. When time is up, they dunno what they have done in their life. They can say they have alot of experience, maybe they have tried alot of industries...

Yup. Alot of people thought that generalisation is good. they know alot of things. But back to the end, "Jack of all trades, Master of none". On the other hand, Specialisation is the winner. How come?

Tiger Woods only plays golf, and he is the world no.1 golf player and the most famous player in the game. Roger Federer only plays tennis, and he is no.1 tennis player. Michael Jordan, only plays basketball, and the most famous in the game. Michael Jackson, famous for pop songs and dance. He does not go into performing musical or classical music. See it? They only need to be master of ONE thing, and they rocked the world.

Coming to specialisation here, I don't mean that anyone who specialise in anything will be good. NO!. Winners are only those who specialise in the correct things. What if someone is a specialist in fixing type-writers? What if someone a specialist in making casette tapes? What if someone is a specialist in fixing windows 98 OS? These ppl would have died 10 years ago...These are ppl who choose the wrong things to specialise in, even though they can be master in their field...

If you want to be a winner in specialisation... find a niche that will not change for years to come. Games of soccer, basketball, golf, their rules are still quite similar to, maybe 10-20 years ago, or just some adjustments to the rules. However, looking at technology...how fast they have changed, how fast they have improved, and how great they can be year after year. Look at the functions of Nokia 3310, and current iPhone. Vast differences.

Hence... I regard that newspaper report as a very invalid and inaccurate report, as it is written irresponsibility, and may have misinformed alot of people, especially students. It would be a killer, if someone accept everything what the report says.

My point in this passage, is just to bring the message of asking people to think big, bigger than their lives, because the brain can think as big as you want them to think. The brain is only limited by our own thinking.

Whenever we do something, let's see how far we can go, and if you can see where you want yourself to be. If you can't see yourself doing it in the future, so don't do it! If you can't see yourself standing in labs doing chemical works day to night, wearing masks, suits, gloves, and memorise scientific equations, formulas, so don't study science! Never say you will try to get interested when you start to work. This will never work.

Think Big. Look outside for what we really love doing, and do it. That's the real meaning of life. Get accurate information from people who have done it, and succeed in things that you want to do. Even if you want to learn how to rob, you should find a seasoned robber who has not been caught, and not a robber who has been nabbed by police in his first attempt! ok. this is just an example... not asking you ppl to do illegal things :P

Let's start thinking BIG yea!! :D