Reminder: It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It

One of the larger projects I'm working on this year is as the main trainer of a collaboration between the Singapore Cancer Society (SCS) and the National Cadet Corps (NCC) of different schools in Singapore.

This is an initiative to have NCC cadets become ambassadors for a smoke-free lifestyle in their respective schools. To push this initiative forward, the Singapore Cancer Society has come up with a talk with a series of activities and projects aimed at getting these cadets ready to take on their roles.

Since different schools have different cultures and different behavioural norms, I found it important to change my delivery each time I presented the talk and run the activities. It doesn't always go smoothly at the start, but, by the end, the NCC cadets are engaged, enthusiastic and ready for the next step.

Of course, there will be a small minority that are smokers (all under the radar, of course) and these individuals will pose some challenges.

I have found that the key is to integrate them into the whole rather than make them feel ostracised by the message. To do this, I found it necessary to change my delivery of the information and steer the flow of the discussions towards a 'softer', more emotion-based engagement. The key information remains the same, of course.

This has been yet another reminder of a philosophy I stand strongly by:

It's not what you say, it's how you say it.

A Post-Christmas Post

It's been a busy Christmas weekend. With an extra public holiday on Monday, I was able to spend more time with my friends than I otherwise would have.

Though we didn't exactly discuss New Year resolutions or next steps, having some casual time was very welcome, especially since we have been very busy over the past few months and only met up sporadically.

It seems that 2017 looks to be a year of great transition. Friends are getting married, doing up their newly-bought homes, planning the next phase of life.

It was a rainy Christmas Eve when I took the picture attached in this post. And it was on that day that I stumbled upon Valuetainment on YouTube, an entrepreneurship-themed channel headed by Patrick Bet-David, as I spent a lot of time over the weekend pondering my next steps.

I spent hours watching the content and found Patrick to be down-to-earth and straight-talking with his advice and knowledge. Truth be told, I wondered why I hadn't come across his channel sooner.

I sent the link to a few of my entrepreneurial-minded friends and continued to learn from the videos. One of Patrick's videos encouraged viewers to download and do a questionnaire on his website. When I looked at the questionnaire, I realised how in-depth it is and how it wants to bring past mindsets, hurts and fears to the surface. 

I have yet to do the questionnaire, but I will over the next few days. I hope to emerge with a better understanding of myself and be clearer in my plans for 2017. Once I'm through with it, I'll likely post an update on what I learned from it. Until then, stay tuned.

You may never see this post, Patrick, but thank you for putting up such great content, and for being so open and generous with your experience.

Updates!

It's been awhile!

This being close to the beginning of the school holidays, it's been a really busy period as schools are starting to ramp up end-of-year programmes.

At the same time, I am preparing for the final touches of my book. The manuscript is done, but there are a few other details, like back cover text and so on, to submit for editing.

I'll also be a guest speaker with Eugene Seah on the 20th of October (tomorrow) at Lifelong Learning Institute, 12.30 pm - 1.30 pm.

Many things are happening near as the year comes to a close. Exciting stuff!

The Third Quarter Of 2016

Where did all the time go?

It's really remarkable how quickly the days pass a second at a time and, before you know it, we're firmly in the third quarter of the year.

When I look back over the past 8 months, I'm thankful for the new people I've met, the new lessons I've learned, the new experiences I've gotten. I have been given new opportunities, shared new ideas, worked on new projects.

It was a hectic first half. It's now a steady pace in the second half. Though I'm glad that things have slowed down, it is tempting to slip into complacency, as I did a little while ago. It's time to overcome that inertia and get cracking.

Now that the National Day week is over, it's back to hustling.

Time waits for no one, and there is an ocean out there to discover!