extracted from http://starcraftarena.net/forum/index.php?topic=3898.0
Ever think that some people are just naturally better at certain things because of their specific biology? Well, regardless of whether or not this is true, there are certain ways to improve your physical skills. These methods should allow you to play Starcraft better. We will be discussing reaction time, music, monitor ergonomics, and rage.
Reaction Time
We all wish that we could move those roaches as soon as we saw the marauders, but most of us have slower reaction times than Gosu gamers like Flash, Jaedong, or Bisu. We may however, through the knowledge of science, give you a slightly better reaction time. Man can now shorten the path between the hand and the eye.
A way to decrease your reaction time is to take a daily supplement of Omega-3 fish oil. It promotes the production of myelin, which coats the axons of a neuron. Neurons function by altering polarity based on Sodium/potassium pumps at Nodes of Renvier. Nodes of Renvier are the nodes that are not covered by a myelin sheath. The longer the distance between nodes of Renvier, the faster the signal travel, because nodes dissipate the charge carried by potassium/sodium ions by giving them a point at which to exit the cell. Promoting the production of myelin lengthens the distance between nodes by covering up more of the axon with myelin, thus speeding up signaling speed.
Synapses are also coated in myelin, and signals pass from the axon of one neuron to the dendrite of another through these synapses using integral proteins called neuroreceptors. Neuroreceptors are responsible for everything from memory to speech. Boosting the production of certain neuroreceptors would decrease reaction time for most people, hopefully allowing you to become a more effective gamer. There are, however, several factors that may increase or decrease reaction time. They include:
Knowing how to react to stimuli - what unit do I make?
Psychological state of mind - e.g. mood.
Physical state of mind - brains get tired. Playing without sleep or when very stressed decreases reaction time significantly.
Deciding how to react to a stimulus - Do I make banshees or Tanks?
Amount of time between stimulus perception and necessary reaction-seeing zealots leaving your opponent’s main vs. seeing them at your ramp.
Severity of threat- i.e. one zergling is less of a threat than 12 ultralisks.
Experience - have I dealt with this before? If so, then your reaction is much better timed. Players put in a new situation will often panic, and let their micro/macro slip.
Body Temperature - cold neurons fire much more slowly, and cold fingers take along time to react.
State of alertness - are you on the attack? Or are you macroing up an army?
Length of neural pathways - remember that more myelin makes shorter pathways, which speeds up neural firing immensely.
Sobriety - playing Starcraft when intoxicated is ill advised; alcohol and most drugs slow down reaction time and affect the brain directly, causing thoughts to be skewed.
Individual biology - Not everyone is the same, you know. Certain things that work for some people may not work on others. People have differing reaction time, with females usually reacting quicker than males. Think about that: Tossgirl probably has a faster reaction time than most Starcraft players!
Increasing your APM
Many people do not know what the acronym APM stands for- it means Actions Per Minute. It is the number of times you click on anything or press a hotkey in one minute. It is not necessarily an indicator of skill, but players with high APM can get more done with their units. They can micromanage units more efficiently, keep up with their micromanagement during attacks, and milk as much worth as they can out of build order timing. High APM does not necessarily translate to skill, but it helps.
Proficient gamers usually have high APM’s; the almost-bonjwa (Starcraft king) Jaedong has an APM consistently above 300 in Brood War. IdrA, an American Zerg currently under employ by the South Korean progaming team CJ Entus, crowned King of the Starcraft 2 beta phase as well as a finalist in HDStarcraft and HuskyStarcraft’s HDH invitational #1- he has an average APM of 146. HuskyStarcraft has an average APM of 110, as does Duckload(White)-ra, the winner of the first HDH invitational. BratOK has an APM of 159, and the crowd favorite, TheLittleOne, has an APM of 139.
Most players can consistently get up to about 80 APM by simply clicking and hitting hotkeys over and over again, while their actual skill level stays the same; this “APM Spamming” is generally frowned upon. The only way to get a higher APM consistently is simple: APM spam. It may take a while, but that useless hitting of keys and selecting of units will develop into a methodical symphony of micromanagement, macromanagement, and nearly-perfect timing. Let the naysayers frown; APM spamming strengthens your fingers, and conditions your neural pathways to be able to perform more actions per minute than before your training. You will benefit from it, and your skill will surely increase. It takes time, however, to become conditioned to use high APM efficiently.
Listening to music while playing Starcraft
Love listening to music while playing Starcraft? Well, you have a friend right here. I love it. Believe it or not, music can greatly affect your play!
Listening to music in allegro- fast tempo, upbeat rhythm- actually increases the rate at which the heart pumps blood, and the rate at which your lungs expand and contract. That means that you get more blood in your fingers and brain, the main two components of a Starcraft player. This extra blood means more oxygen, meaning that your brain can function more efficiently, resulting in a shorter reaction time. You fingers also benefit; more oxygen is carried to them, allowing for the Krebs cycle to occur in your muscle cells. The Krebs cycle manufactures ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, out of oxygen and several other compounds. ATP attaches itself to components of muscle cells, and causes them to expand or contract based on electric charge. Listening to upbeat music helps you play faster.
Music that causes influxes of adrenaline- very rousing music, such as hard rock and metal- affects your play dramatically as well. Adrenaline actually increases reaction time more dramatically than about any other compound besides amphetamines (which are highly illegal in almost every economically developed country). Adrenaline lets your instincts do the decision-making; it is a compound that humans used to use to decide whether to fight or flee. Gamers are faced with much the same situation in a good game- during a big attack, for example. Rousing music may facilitate the release of adrenaline, allowing you to make decisions quicker, and be generally more alert.
Be sure not to turn off your game sounds, though; you don’t want to miss the fact that you are supply-blocked or that you are being attacked.
Monitor troubles
Believe it or not, the monitor is a fairly common source of problems for Starcraft players. Many players keep their computer monitors too close to their eyes, making it impossible to focus efficiently on everything that is happening on-screen. The human eye can only focus on so many points at once. This is about the simplest in the world: push your monitor back a bit. I did, and I noticed that I could see much, much more that was happening in the game. Similarly, to increase your focus, turn your graphical settings on low- that’s how the pro’s play. It allows you to focus on the bigger picture; your brain isn’t wrapped up in processing all the tiny details of the ultra setting. It’s a lot like your processor-the lower the graphics, the smoother it runs.
Dealing with Rage
We’ve all lost a game- and most of us have gotten a little angry more than once when we’ve lost. This rage can be eliminated in a number of ways. A popular way to deal with rage is by angrily typing at your opponent- this can get you in major trouble: DON’T DO IT. The best way, in my own opinion, to deal with rage is to take a quick break for a short workout. A few pushups, pull-ups, and sit-ups later, I feel refreshed and restored. My rage from losing is gone, and I am ready to play another game. Many other people utilize this method of anger management, and experience similar results. The reason is this: during voluntary physical activity, the human body releases pleasure sensors called endorphins. This creates a natural high; some illegal drugs (which I in no way endorse) create a similar high by releasing damaging chemicals that mimic endorphins into your brain. This natural high can be experienced in several ways. You can listen to a favorite song, watch a favorite TV show, or even eat chocolate. Yes, chocolate. As high in sugar as it is, the chemical signature that chocolate leaves upon your brain causes it to emit endorphins naturally.
[Disclaimer]
These methods may not work for everyone. People are different, and no major results should be expected. The purpose of this article was simply to show people how to tweak themselves and their physical surroundings to become better players without massive amounts of in-game practice.
[Sources]
SC2 Replayed.com
ABC.net /science
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Stop Comparing Yourself with Steve Jobs
Timely that I just happened to chance on this article right after I wrote my previous post. Much better advice than what Jere choose to offer me I must say :p
====================================
Comparing yourself with Steve Jobs is not healthy. Never mind that it's probably the pastime of every alpha male and female businessperson on the planet these days.
Drawing inspiration from Steve Jobs — or from anyone else you admire — studying them, and learning from them, now those are different matters. But all too often we conflate admiration and comparison. They're two completely different things. One is smart, the other debilitating.
Comparison sounds like this: "Why aren't I that creative?" "How come I don't have the negotiating cajones he does?" "How come I can't manage my people to that level of excellence?" "Why can't I run two companies at once like he does?" "Why didn't I have the guts to drop out of college and do what I really wanted to do?" "How come I haven't had a comeback?" And it's no surprise what comes next: "What a loser I am. I'll never be like him. I'll never be able to do anything that big. If I were sitting across the office from him he'd make mincemeat of me. I just don't have what he has."
The loop is repeated every hour or every time you read something about your icon, whichever comes first.
And this is healthy how?
Such comparisons spiral you into depression. They demotivate you, demoralize you, and generally suck every last bit of enthusiasm and aliveness out of you, so that you go into your next meeting or activity unable to contribute an ounce of energy to the room. How could you? You just annihilated your spirit.
Don't touch hot stoves, don't forget to call your mother on Mother's Day, and don't compare yourself with others. Wire this into your brain. Ruthlessly comparing yourself with others has become confused with some kind of tough-love work ethic. It isn't the same thing. And it isn't the least bit productive. It leaves you with nothing but personal unhappiness, and you can't create very much of anything with that.
Because we confuse destructive comparisons with a strong work ethic, we make a habit of them, and mental habits get hardwired into our brains.
Break the cycle. Do an intervention on yourself. Begin the process of permanently rewiring your brain by consciously recognizing that this thing you thought was good, or responsible, is in fact the opposite.
There's a saying, "You can't afford the luxury of a negative thought." It's true. And comparing yourself to others is the equivalent of smothering yourself in negative thought. The feelings of self-loathing that follow are ultimately self-centered and self-indulgent in the most negative possible way. Yes, it's a form of self-pity.
And if all that isn't enough, consider this: The last way you will ever get to play in a game remotely like the one your icons play in is by comparing yourself with them.
When I was in my 20s I moved to Los Angeles to try and get a record deal as a singer and songwriter. I compared myself with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell constantly. Using that approach, I never produced a remotely memorable song. And then I started observing pop/rock songwriter John Cougar. He was derided by the critics for being derivative of, but never nearly as insightful or affecting as, the greats. In a brilliant stroke of authenticity, he dropped the name I assume record producers had forced on him and began using his real name — John Mellencamp. As he embraced his own inadequacies, he began to write about things that were actually real and personal to him, instead of trying to channel Bob Seeger, and suddenly he was producing critically acclaimed music. He went on to found Farm Aid and in 2008 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Using Mellencamp as my model — which meant being true to me and not someone else — I began writing much better, much more authentic material, and even had a song recorded by Edgar Winter.
I heard an interview on NPR the other day with Justin Townes Earle, a great and now successful songwriter in his own right, and son of Mellencamp's contemporary, the great rural songwriter Steve Earle. Justin bears his dad's last name, and his middle name was given to him in honor of the legendary songwriter Townes Van Zandt. He was asked if this was a burden, to be compared with these guys. His response was brilliant:
"I know both of 'em. They ain't legends to me. They're just regular guys. I've seen them throw up on themselves... I knew early on that anyone that decided they were going to be in competition with Steve Earle and Townsend Van Zandt as a songwriter is gonna live a fool's life. You just gotta try and write for yourself and not worry about what other people think. I think that that's what screws a lotta people up. You're not Dylan...you're who you are and you gotta learn who you are in order to write decent songs."
And this credo has made him a success.
Steve Earle or Steve Jobs — if you're comparing yourself with them you're betraying yourself and your life and all of the possibility that lies within it.Timbre!!
When is Yeow leaving for US ah? Shall we go Timbre to celebrate his milestone career move? wink wink... there's a cute singer there according to my certain sources. wink wink...
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Teaching for Understanding (TfU)
(Extracted from here)
The teachers at Victoria School show us how teachers can actively work together, forging communities of learning, to guide students beyond just mere knowledge, towards true understanding.
We are all aware that to know something is not quite the same as understanding something. After all, just because a student understands the concept of overpopulation does not mean that he also understands how this may contribute to environmental deterioration or why this could lead to the extinction of certain native plants and animals. He may know a great deal but he has failed to understand its implications - a scenario that teachers have encountered all too often in the classroom.
Added to this is also a more established awareness of the culture of isolation among teachers: a culture where a lack of shared knowledge and peer support is endemic. Simply put, teachers just don't share their skills and experiences with each other, and there is no support among the faculty. And so, teachers' capacities are often sorely constrained as a result, as they try to fight a seemingly lonely battle against unmotivated students, a relentless workload, and the heavy responsibility of shaping the next generation.
To combat both of these trends, Mrs Lee Hwa Phiak, together with the teachers at Victoria School have turned to the Teaching for Understanding (TfU) framework1, developed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Teaching for Understanding
In line with the Ministry of Education's (MOE) Teach Less, Learn More focus, the TfU framework asks four main questions that teachers need to ask themselves before they even begin to teach:
These questions help teachers to understand why they teach what they teach. It acknowledges teachers' true role as facilitators of understanding—they are no longer just mere providers of knowledge.
This framework also helps teachers understand how what they teach contributes to their students' understanding.
…Together
To learn how to implement the TfU framework in their own subject areas, the teaching staff completed an online professional development programme (WIDE World2). By working in small teams, they were able to try out new strategies, discuss and obtain feedback. This also helped to combat the problem of teacher isolation through extensive collaborative learning and active peer review, which provided a rich and purposeful learning experience.This supportive process continued even after the course was completed. The teachers remained dedicated to applying the TfU framework to the curriculum, as part of their shared responsibility for their students' learning. Combining their experience and resources, they worked together on lesson plans and assessment activities. Teachers also sat in on each other's lessons and reflected upon their own as well as others' teaching practices.
The result
This greater exploration and experimentation in teaching practice, using the common language of the TfU framework, not only increased teacher motivation and morale but also student engagement in class. Lessons become more enjoyable and meaningful, and students demonstrated a positive gain in their subject performance.Not only have the teachers at Victoria School managed to inspire greater understanding in their students, but they have also deepened their own knowledge and understanding of content and pedagogy through shared awareness and effort.
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My mentor right now is also involved in this implementation of TfU in our school and is also guiding me towards this approach of teaching where lessons are now more students learning centric rather than teacher lesson centric. The approach is really to allow students to be engaged in hands-on tasks or through real life examples that they can relate to, so as to provide an environment where they formulate their own learning and logical thinking through exploration and group discussions/experiment to share ideas as well as questions of what works and what doesn’t and provide opportunities to use what they have learnt to demonstrate their understanding, rather than traditional instructive learning. Teachers now play a role of a facilitator in student’s learning and the use of more interactive approach as well as the using of technology to help implement that is now more prevalent in the classroom.
Living up to expectations
Some people have been telling me that I have been appearing very stressed up and emotional lately, in addition to suggesting that it might be work related. I have to admit I have not had the relaxed and confident mood I used to enjoy back in Uni. The suggestion that this change in mood came from the new job is fair since it was the last major change in my life since graduation but I have not quite been able to pin down what was it about my work that is making me stressed up. I have a great environment and bosses whom are extremely nurturing, the work is interesting and it does seem like my contributions are very much appreciated at the workplace. So the source of this distress had been eluding me for a long time - until now.
I realised that what have been bothering me is the inability to live up to the very high expectations I had set for myself. Working in an environment filled with great people, I kept trying to peg my own behaviour and performance to the best role model I can find for each aspect of personal and professional life. I expected myself to be able to emulate their aptitude and attitude quickly but kept finding myself falling short most of the time. On reflection, I do realise that I cannot expect myself to be as good as everyone else immediately. It certainly takes time to shape attitude and performance. Yet, every time when I fall short, I cannot help but blame myself for my inability to measure up to my benchmarks. This is exacerbated by the high expectations everyone seems to have for me at work (I know they are just being nurturing, but its hard to think they do not really expect such high standards from me).
I think I need to moderate expectations for myself if I were to stay on in an environment like mine so as not to lose my sanity. I have yet to find a feasible way though. The tendency to feel bad whenever I fall short from being the best seems to reside deep in my psyche.
Do you guys share this same feeling I have? What do you do to moderate expectations (I'm referring to self expectations)?
I realised that what have been bothering me is the inability to live up to the very high expectations I had set for myself. Working in an environment filled with great people, I kept trying to peg my own behaviour and performance to the best role model I can find for each aspect of personal and professional life. I expected myself to be able to emulate their aptitude and attitude quickly but kept finding myself falling short most of the time. On reflection, I do realise that I cannot expect myself to be as good as everyone else immediately. It certainly takes time to shape attitude and performance. Yet, every time when I fall short, I cannot help but blame myself for my inability to measure up to my benchmarks. This is exacerbated by the high expectations everyone seems to have for me at work (I know they are just being nurturing, but its hard to think they do not really expect such high standards from me).
I think I need to moderate expectations for myself if I were to stay on in an environment like mine so as not to lose my sanity. I have yet to find a feasible way though. The tendency to feel bad whenever I fall short from being the best seems to reside deep in my psyche.
Do you guys share this same feeling I have? What do you do to moderate expectations (I'm referring to self expectations)?
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Wine Wise (Tiong Bahru)
Found a nice cheap place near tiong bahru market that serves nice wine. shld be nice to bring ur special someone to(esp the one who just change unit...ahem). light drinker will spend 10 bucks, heavier drinkers will spend abt 20 bucks.
Address: 57 Eng Hoon Street #01-86 Singapore
Tel: +65 6227 2118
Opening Hours
Daily: 11am – 2pm, 6pm – 10pm
do note the opening timings thou.
review:
http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/wine_wise_tiong_bahru/
Address: 57 Eng Hoon Street #01-86 Singapore
Tel: +65 6227 2118
Opening Hours
Daily: 11am – 2pm, 6pm – 10pm
do note the opening timings thou.
review:
http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/wine_wise_tiong_bahru/
Sunday, September 5, 2010
TIP report
Something I wrote while I was in school. Found it as i was clearing my com
The first seminar I went to was the Buzzcity NUS inaugural Digital Media Forum cum MOU signing ceremony. The first speaker shared his experience of setting up a mobile applications. In the initiation stage, he spoke of the importance of market surveys and told us of an example of his findings.
He shared on how the people from less developed countries, people were more receptive to the idea of internet usage on their hand phones as opposed to internet on the computer as many were not computer savvy. He also shared with us the success of mobile social applications which he deemed to be the selling of friendship and vanity. His own success story involved the http://mygamma.com website.
The second seminar I attended was CEO unplugged. Adam Khoo was the 1st speaker. He spoke about learning how to model successful people, about this being the quickest way to attain the success that you desired. As he touched on how to brand and sell a product, giving examples of his own books, which are the fusion and reproduction of other books that he read with his personal touch. He therefore concludes that you do not need to have a great new idea to be an entrepreneur; you just have to improve on a current idea. With this he share a bit about his book, Mind your Destiny, whereby he teaches people to copy other people who excel in their fields.
Adam is one of the more memorable speakers from these series of seminars. I felt I could closely relate to his experiences and actually followed up on this talk by him by reading 3 of his books, Mind Your Destiny, Secrets of a Self-made Millionaire and Secrets of a Millionaire Investor. From two, namely Mind Your Destiny and Secrets of a Self-made Millionaire, I can see how he ‘copies’ ideas from other people, specifically, Mind Your Destiny was modeled after Steve Covey’s 7 habits of highly successful people and Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. He also added his own experiences and a Singapore flavor to the book. Meanwhile, Secrets of a Self-made Millionaire was modeled after Rich Dad, Poor Dad and had a chapter effectively summarizing Warren Buffet’s ideas.
He also spoke of the joy of being in a business for the love of the job, not the money, as money is a just measure of success, not the motivation for doing the job.
The second speaker was Ivan Lee, the owner of New York, New York and Thai Express. He shared on how much of running a business is good leadership. He spoke on how in the past he worried too much about employee’s opinions and feelings and how he spent too much time trying to accommodate them. Now, he does not explain too much on his decisions and chooses to replace staff that go against him. He did however emphasize the need to respect and empower his staff to do their jobs.
I do agree with him on this point as I have a tendency to explain my self too much sometimes as I worry about what other people think of my decisions, especially when I lead projects. Too much empathy can be a problem as it distracts you from thinking about what is best for the task at hand. I realized this during group projects in NUS and have somewhat changed my style of working in a group.
He also spoke about copying other people’s idea as he studies other country restaurant’s menu ideas and improved on them for his own restaurant. He then spoke on Cash flow issues in business and the importance of being able to manage your cash flow well.
ASEANpreneurs youth leaders networks was the third seminar I attended. The 1ts speaker was Mr Teo Ser Luck who shared his experience that entrepreneurs need to learn to accept failures. He stressed that its not the success rate, but the ability to try and innovate, and gave the example of the person who invented the new coke, which failed miserably. But the person was promoted anyway. He also share on how the employee who lost 15 million at goggle was told by its owners that if he did not take risk, he was not doing his job. In his experience, for every 10 investments, there are about 2 successes. He also share how his interest in his work was initially about the money, but later became about keeping the people in their jobs.
The panel of discussions saw Ivan Lee sharing again. He shared on how his opening of a western café in the beginning had failed, after which he started Thai express. He spoke a bit on the importance of having an identity when doing retail, as with he did with Thai express. He stressed the importance locations when expanding, expressing his regret of opening an outlet in New Zealand, which he only visited once due to its distance.
Henry also followed up on the high failure rate in venture capitalism. He however mentioned that the one success made up for many failures that you would come across in his line of work. He shared on how too much investments can be a bad thing for a company, giving the example of how during the dot com boom, one of his companies had too much cash invested and it was wasted in hiring unnecessary people. This resulted in the collapse of the company.
Finally, Robert shared his experience in the air condition business. He shared on how he travels often to the countries that he plans to invest in to understand the local culture there. For example, home appliances sold in Vietnam are sold in small shops and therefore distribution would be very different as opposed to countries such as Singapore.
The fourth seminar was the unlocking the potential of solar energy seminar. This seminar was about the potential of solar power as a replacement for our current energy sources in view of the rising fuel cost. It dealt less with entrepreneurship because of the high cost of infrastructure.
I see similarities in many entrepreneurs. They all have a high threshold for failure; they take note of their mistakes and come back stronger. They all have passion for their work, that being their main driving force behind why they look forward to going to work everyday. I have learnt that you need to take a hard line with your staff at times and respect them at the same time. The most important thing I have learnt is probably how to view and take failure. Being a society driven by the need to succeed, failure had become almost a taboo word in our education system. This paradigm needs to change if we are to embrace an entrepreneurial spirit. We need to view failure as a learning experience, ‘just another way in which it does not work’ as Thomas Edison put it when he was trying to invent the light bulb. These entrepreneurs also modeled their idols or mentors (Adam Khoo) and learned from organizations already out there (Ivan Lee). They do not waste time reinventing the wheel.
The first seminar I went to was the Buzzcity NUS inaugural Digital Media Forum cum MOU signing ceremony. The first speaker shared his experience of setting up a mobile applications. In the initiation stage, he spoke of the importance of market surveys and told us of an example of his findings.
He shared on how the people from less developed countries, people were more receptive to the idea of internet usage on their hand phones as opposed to internet on the computer as many were not computer savvy. He also shared with us the success of mobile social applications which he deemed to be the selling of friendship and vanity. His own success story involved the http://mygamma.com website.
The second seminar I attended was CEO unplugged. Adam Khoo was the 1st speaker. He spoke about learning how to model successful people, about this being the quickest way to attain the success that you desired. As he touched on how to brand and sell a product, giving examples of his own books, which are the fusion and reproduction of other books that he read with his personal touch. He therefore concludes that you do not need to have a great new idea to be an entrepreneur; you just have to improve on a current idea. With this he share a bit about his book, Mind your Destiny, whereby he teaches people to copy other people who excel in their fields.
Adam is one of the more memorable speakers from these series of seminars. I felt I could closely relate to his experiences and actually followed up on this talk by him by reading 3 of his books, Mind Your Destiny, Secrets of a Self-made Millionaire and Secrets of a Millionaire Investor. From two, namely Mind Your Destiny and Secrets of a Self-made Millionaire, I can see how he ‘copies’ ideas from other people, specifically, Mind Your Destiny was modeled after Steve Covey’s 7 habits of highly successful people and Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. He also added his own experiences and a Singapore flavor to the book. Meanwhile, Secrets of a Self-made Millionaire was modeled after Rich Dad, Poor Dad and had a chapter effectively summarizing Warren Buffet’s ideas.
He also spoke of the joy of being in a business for the love of the job, not the money, as money is a just measure of success, not the motivation for doing the job.
The second speaker was Ivan Lee, the owner of New York, New York and Thai Express. He shared on how much of running a business is good leadership. He spoke on how in the past he worried too much about employee’s opinions and feelings and how he spent too much time trying to accommodate them. Now, he does not explain too much on his decisions and chooses to replace staff that go against him. He did however emphasize the need to respect and empower his staff to do their jobs.
I do agree with him on this point as I have a tendency to explain my self too much sometimes as I worry about what other people think of my decisions, especially when I lead projects. Too much empathy can be a problem as it distracts you from thinking about what is best for the task at hand. I realized this during group projects in NUS and have somewhat changed my style of working in a group.
He also spoke about copying other people’s idea as he studies other country restaurant’s menu ideas and improved on them for his own restaurant. He then spoke on Cash flow issues in business and the importance of being able to manage your cash flow well.
ASEANpreneurs youth leaders networks was the third seminar I attended. The 1ts speaker was Mr Teo Ser Luck who shared his experience that entrepreneurs need to learn to accept failures. He stressed that its not the success rate, but the ability to try and innovate, and gave the example of the person who invented the new coke, which failed miserably. But the person was promoted anyway. He also share on how the employee who lost 15 million at goggle was told by its owners that if he did not take risk, he was not doing his job. In his experience, for every 10 investments, there are about 2 successes. He also share how his interest in his work was initially about the money, but later became about keeping the people in their jobs.
The panel of discussions saw Ivan Lee sharing again. He shared on how his opening of a western café in the beginning had failed, after which he started Thai express. He spoke a bit on the importance of having an identity when doing retail, as with he did with Thai express. He stressed the importance locations when expanding, expressing his regret of opening an outlet in New Zealand, which he only visited once due to its distance.
Henry also followed up on the high failure rate in venture capitalism. He however mentioned that the one success made up for many failures that you would come across in his line of work. He shared on how too much investments can be a bad thing for a company, giving the example of how during the dot com boom, one of his companies had too much cash invested and it was wasted in hiring unnecessary people. This resulted in the collapse of the company.
Finally, Robert shared his experience in the air condition business. He shared on how he travels often to the countries that he plans to invest in to understand the local culture there. For example, home appliances sold in Vietnam are sold in small shops and therefore distribution would be very different as opposed to countries such as Singapore.
The fourth seminar was the unlocking the potential of solar energy seminar. This seminar was about the potential of solar power as a replacement for our current energy sources in view of the rising fuel cost. It dealt less with entrepreneurship because of the high cost of infrastructure.
I see similarities in many entrepreneurs. They all have a high threshold for failure; they take note of their mistakes and come back stronger. They all have passion for their work, that being their main driving force behind why they look forward to going to work everyday. I have learnt that you need to take a hard line with your staff at times and respect them at the same time. The most important thing I have learnt is probably how to view and take failure. Being a society driven by the need to succeed, failure had become almost a taboo word in our education system. This paradigm needs to change if we are to embrace an entrepreneurial spirit. We need to view failure as a learning experience, ‘just another way in which it does not work’ as Thomas Edison put it when he was trying to invent the light bulb. These entrepreneurs also modeled their idols or mentors (Adam Khoo) and learned from organizations already out there (Ivan Lee). They do not waste time reinventing the wheel.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Procrastinating
I kind of have tons of work on my work desk right now but decided to procrastinate a little and blog some nonsense.
A little knowledge sharing with you guys with regards to the "Serve And Fuckoff" and its medical procedures with those "Not Stupid" men. As those who already knew, i have suffer burnt marks on my back during out field and was referred to specialist in NUH. Despite the fact that this should be considered as a service injury, i was still made to pay for my medical consultation simply because the officers did not file a service injury report. As for the question of who should be the person to write thise service injury report, i have no answer to it and i doubt my "Not Stupid" OC knows that answer too. Though he probably would think that its not his job to write that report.
In my opinion, the person qualified to write this report should be the safety officer who covers safety during the execise as he has companied me to the medical centre during the point when i reported my injury. However i am not OSC trained hence i can't really comment much on this portion.
Hence in any case if you guys got yourself injury during reservist, remember to push for someone to write a service injury report before you see the MO for referral to specialist.
A little knowledge sharing with you guys with regards to the "Serve And Fuckoff" and its medical procedures with those "Not Stupid" men. As those who already knew, i have suffer burnt marks on my back during out field and was referred to specialist in NUH. Despite the fact that this should be considered as a service injury, i was still made to pay for my medical consultation simply because the officers did not file a service injury report. As for the question of who should be the person to write thise service injury report, i have no answer to it and i doubt my "Not Stupid" OC knows that answer too. Though he probably would think that its not his job to write that report.
In my opinion, the person qualified to write this report should be the safety officer who covers safety during the execise as he has companied me to the medical centre during the point when i reported my injury. However i am not OSC trained hence i can't really comment much on this portion.
Hence in any case if you guys got yourself injury during reservist, remember to push for someone to write a service injury report before you see the MO for referral to specialist.
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