“i bought my house in an elevator” – said no one ever!!

seriously though, when was the last time you heard someone buy anything in an elevator? elevators, being a metal box don’t even have great mobile or wireless reception, so it’s not even conducive to online purchases!

seth godin posed a challenging question this week – why then do business owners end up focussing on creating an elevator pitch if no one has ever bought anything in an elevator?

that’s a good question. i have to admit, i don’t think i’ve stopped to think through why an elevator pitch is important. i just assumed it was something i needed because the “experts” said so. it might be important, but the point i’m making here is not to blindly accept what others say is right. instead, ask why?

i was a shy asian kid fresh out of university. during the first week of my first paid job, my boss pulls me into a meeting. nervously, i reluctantly stagger into his office, racking my brain to figure out what i had done wrong this time.

“the next time we have a meeting with external vendors, i want you to ask a question. don’t just sit there silently. ask any question. i’ll be there … ”

day after day, week after week, he would confront me after i was silent in meetings. i wasn’t blatantly trying to ignore his orders. but i wanted to look intelligent and not reveal my stupidity by asking a silly question.

years later, i now realise his logic. he was teaching me to think and ask good questions. and there’s only one way to ask good questions – is to start asking questions. any silly question. just get in a habit of asking questions and the fear of looking silly will fade. often, what you think is a silly question is the exact question everyone else has but is too afraid to ask.

i like what tony robbins said – “if you want to raise the quality of your life, then start asking yourself quality questions.” 

what question are you asking yourself today?

it’s definitely not the way he picks his butt that i admire him for. or the fact that he fastidiously lines up his water bottles on the court after each warm up. or that he sweats profusely.

rafael nadal’s character and work ethic is what makes me a huge fan. in most recent interview after winning his first 2019 title in rome, he says

“i don’t care about winning 6-0 or 6-4 over djokovic. the victory is the work i do everyday, more than winning titles.”

“you work mentally when you go to the court everyday and you train. you don’t complain when you play bad, when you have problems, when you have pains. you put on the right attitude, the right face. you are not negative about the issues that cause you to play bad. you go on court everyday with the passion to keep practicing. that’s the mental work. i’ve done that all my career. not being frustrated when things are not going well. not being too negative. that’s why i always have the chance to be back. and now here we are, an important moment, an important title, and now is the moment to keep going.”

even uncle toni, his previous coach is motivated by rafa’s desire to constantly improve.

it’s about doing the daily work, the hard slog, even when you don’t see the immediate results. but with every day, you’re building character, consistency, the right attitude.

that’s been drilled into my mind lately – you can’t control the result or the outcome. but you can control what you do daily. you are responsible for your actions so stick to the process and decide to keep going.

having just got back from a surf today in less than ideal conditions, i can choose to give up, or i can keep going regardless of the wave conditions and practice in the whitewash. and when the conditions are better, i can hopefully see my progress.

thanks rafa for the inspiration yet again. vamos for the french open!!

so, what victory can you have today? what work can you do today?

if i’m not surfing in my spare time, there’s high chances that i’m buried amongst books.

i’ve recently rediscovered my love of books. if i drive past a second hand bookshop in a small country town, chances are that i will probably stop for a break. the business / self improvement section has long been my long time favourite, or more recently the interior design section.

right now, here are the list of books that i’m currently reading

– show your work by austin kleon

– thinking fast and slow by daniel kahnman

– the daniel dilemma by chris hodges

– leadership jazz by max de pree

– trillion dollar coach by eric schmidt, jonathan rosenberg and alan eagle

– bird by bird by anne lamott

– the end of the affair by vintage green

i decided this year that i want to read a book at least every couple of weeks, so 26 books at least!

i’ve also turned my car into a university and loving long drives as i’m learning lots through listening to podcasts. npr’s how i built this is a must listen every week. and i’m also currently going back to listen to tim ferriss’ long form interviews on experts in the area of finance.

i’m curious – what are you reading now? and if you listen to podcasts, what are they? please do comment as i’m always on the lookout for great books and podcasts!

i love this nation, and truly blessed to call australia home.

on a day like today, where the nation democratically elected the next prime minister… i don’t take this freedom for granted.

in my country of birth, despite appearances, it isn’t a democracy. less than half the seats are contested, so the prime minister is in a sense already decided before the nation goes to vote. and so when the people vote for the opposition, the government penalises them. public transport gets taken away from that suburb, government housing buildings don’t get upgraded… the list goes on. and that’s the public list. there’s a lot more things that happens in the dark.

i clearly remember the night when i decided i want to become a citizen. you might think it was because i love this beautiful nation full of awesome beaches and amazing sunshine :). but being a permanent resident, i could still enjoy all this and live here indefinitely without being a citizen.

no, the primary reason for wanting to be a citizen was so i could vote. you see, that night, i had been invited by my close aussie friend to an election party. i remember feeling so out of place that night as the concept of a democratic leader was so foreign to me. i couldn’t imagine that people would gather together to watch the polling results and celebrate the next leader of this country.

every voice matters. your voice matters. just as every single vote counts especially in a close election like we just had, make every second of your life count!

i quit something this week. and it created more space in my life. i felt lighter and freer and i didn’t realise how much emotional energy it was sucking from me until i finally made the decision to eliminate that thing out of my life. had i trusted my gut instinct, i would have done it a lot sooner and saved myself all that grief!

last year, the world was fixated by the konmari movement of decluttering our homes. no doubt, part of the success of marie kondo’s methods was that by decluttering our physical environment, it would also make us feel more at peace, in turn creating more space in our lives.

i’m all for adventure and experiencing new things to expand my thinking. however, if i keep adding new things to my life, then it only makes sense that i will need to eliminate some stuff in my life.

i first heard about this concept of quitting things regularly, through bob goff. every thursday, he deliberately quit something to eliminate noise in his life and “let the symphony have the stage again”.

maybe instead of focussing on setting goals every year to achieve something new, we might be better quitting 52 things in a year. who knows, it might bring greater clarity to what’s truly important in our lives.