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My 2018: Did Yours Matter?

As the year ends, we come full circle once again. Often repeating the sentence… “This year has passed so fast!”. The end of the year is typically a heavy time for me as its celebration after celebration… Christmas, my Birthday… then New Year’s Eve. Traditionally for the last 10 years, I’ve been taking the first week of the year off just to recuperate from the last 2 weeks of festivities and this also allows me to review, reflect and set the year ahead.

But I only managed to do this again this year… and not the last 2 years, as the past 2 had been a turbulent roller coaster ride. Putting that aside, I am grateful that I am back to tradition and again able to take the time to reflect.

This year I must say… aside a couple of minor bumps… overall… it has been GREAT!…

So I ask myself these questions every year…

1. What are the moments that I could remember?
2. Why were they memorable?
3. What am I grateful for?
4. What did I learn from those moments
5. How will I do better?

So here are some of those moments I could remember and why…

Firstly, the year took me to many new places and some old ones carrying great memories. Racking up Air miles to New Orleans, Houston, Toronto, Las Vegas, Singapore, Phnom Penh, London, Beijing, Bangkok, Penang, and Kuching sounds tiring now looking back. But the Visit to the Grand Canyon was a real eye-opener. I truly understand now what a Wonder of the World is…

Beijing was a milestone trip as it was my first time in China. Another Wonder of the World and I was astonished by how this is all man-made…

I was grateful this year that Jovita could be with me on the majority of the trips, unfortunately, she missed Beijing, but the one that I will put up there is our Chinese New Year in London. This was significant… we have not been back in London for almost 20 years! There were so many memories re-visiting again and it was a time back then where our love first manifested.

Secondly, my teams at Infront and Owners Circle have been super awesome. All of them believing in core values, pushing through to the end goal and this has allowed me to take the businesses to yet another level and still allow me to build my own personal learning.

New alliances were formed this year, new products and partnerships were trusted upon us and clients are continuing to believe in us. I truly believe that when you have an aligned team, success and miracles can happen.

Thirdly, I get to live out my personal passions in life… emcee-ing and performing at several events, facilitating and teaching what I know, and mentoring entrepreneurs to achieve their own personal greatness.

I remember these things because every time I do it… I smile. I guess that’s what they mean by doing something you love. I was asked to facilitate Strategic Summits for some top businesses and it was an honor to be able to be part of that planning process.

Finally, the celebrations throughout the year. Having been named one of the 100 Most Influential Young Entrepreneur of 2018 was special because I loved the word YOUNG in there. I had 4 Team retreats, The results allowing for a new Malaysia, celebrations with friends at festivities were all still edged in my mind till today because it is done with the people I care about.

It is through celebrations that we remind ourselves that it makes up key milestones of memories through our lifeline.

Unfortunately, this was the year that my health had decided to test me. From shoulder injuries to missing elements in my system that won’t allow my wounds to heal and weak organs causing me to make changes in diet and lifestyle. This was a wake-up call for me. It reminded me that in the Wheel of Life’s Goals and Achievements, the center and core of it all is HEALTH. Without a good core of health, it makes it harder to go out to achieve your goals. Health has to be first and foremost the First Goal.

I also had a big regret. I lost a best friend this year. Totally due to my negligence and comfort level of the relationship. I had thought that through the relationship, a lot of things are ‘doable’ and it was alright that things were delayed. And although I saw the signs coming, in the end, I was too late. I will write again about this in time…

So what were my learnings from the year?

1. Life is a Story.
   It is made up of moments that happen. We cannot change it, for it just… happens. In a conversation with former VJ and model, Asha Gill, we agreed that Hindsight allows us to look back and often times we say things like “I should have” or “I could have”, but if those moments never happen, how could we reflect on it? So what if we just allowed ourselves to accept that things just… happens. And we say… it’s part of a story.This year, Ryan Avery, the 2012 World Toastmasters champion said… to become A Leader to THE leader… one of the things we must embrace is the ability to tell OUR story. Cause everyone likes to listen to stories right? But on top of that, our story could be someone else’s learning. As I grow older I find it easier to accept that everything that happens in life is a learning journey. Once we embrace this… our stories begin to form our bestseller.On a day right after the elections (yay for the new government), James Lawrence, a person I admire tremendously for his feat in completing 50 Ironman, in 50 different US states, in 50 consecutive states thought us that the only thing different between us and him, is one thought… one belief. It is people like him who defies the odds, and watches basketball, and does the laundry…. just like you and me… that truly sets a standard of being extraordinary.
2. Empowerment and Influence are Key Entrepreneurship Ingredients
   At the companies I have built, I’ve always done my best at trying to build a strong family culture, but starting from 2 years ago, I started to truly empower and build leaders. Not as part of my TODO list, but dedicated and focused at doing it and removing myself from operations almost completely.This year, my teams have flourished! They are building up the company on a steady growth path and aligned to the exponential growths.Jeff Hoffman, built 2 billion dollar companies in his entrepreneurship journey said “Hire the best talents and get out of the way. Dedicate yourself to building a place where no one wants to leave”. I truly believe this to be true.Through powers of Influence taught by a good buddy and the great South African mentalist, Gilan Gork. One resonated with me the most is the Power of Reciprocation. Help FIRST… then others may feel obliged to HELP you in return.I used to think that the responsibility of the founder and entrepreneur is to create everything… but the powers of great companies are not in a founder’s creation, but through the exponential effect of an army of talents
3. Research all you can to make a decision but in the end… Trust Your GutI took up mentoring a couple of different entrepreneurs this year and a similar situation kept on popping up. A situation where we are presented with multiple things to go forthwith. I was put in this situation many times before in the past and still do till today. It was brought to my attention 5 times this year, and we always feel one of the following or ALL at once…

• If I choose to do just one, will I lose out if I don’t to the other?
• What if I made the wrong decision in my choice, and lost the opportunity for the other one?
• Maybe I can do both?

Have you felt this way before?

As I was trying to figure out what advice I could give, I remembered that the times that were in those situations, I researched as much as I could, thought very hard throughout, tried to play different scenarios in my head. But in the end, it cost me… time. I delayed decisions and this delay caused my failures, not my choice of which path to take.

I’ve learned that a wrong decision is one that is not made.

If we choose a path, do it all-in and wholeheartedly, then we will never feel like we lost out. Everything happens for a reason (point no.1) and we will never know until we start walking on one path and going full-on.

In the end, our ‘Gut Feel’ is a collection of our past experiences, and perhaps… if you believe… a guiding hand of God. So trust it…

I am now at the starting line of my 2019 race. While I have already set out a couple of goals (one of which is to start writing a book), my main goal is to live this year in my own timeline, plotting my own milestones and continuing to live my passion in empowering people.

I hope you are with me on this journey. Bless You