I scrolled through the list of names that were from the same secondary school batch as me. Some of the names are familiar, some no. Going through their current career, ‘Head of so and so’, ‘GM of so and so’, ‘Director of so and so in Ministry of so and so’, each and every single one of them holding top and senior management positions in both the public and private sector.
And then, inevitably, I look at myself and asked, ‘What happened?’ At which point in my life did I got sidetracked? What did I do that put me like 10 years behind my peers?
I looked back, and sigh with regret.
Posted in Ramblings.
Tagged with life, regret.
By wenjie
– July 5, 2009
It was one of those nights where he and her were having their usual drinks in their usual haunt. The usual conversational topics, the usual laughter, it was one of those familiar nights that they both shared since last year.
She asked him if he will ever drink with his bosses. He paused for a while and replied that drinking to him is a very personal thing. He only drinks with people on the same frequency as him, and that he is comfortable with. People who he can relate to, and whom he can open his soul to. And there is not a lot of people on this planet that fits the requirements. It is like those Chinese wuxia novels where people drip blood to be brothers and then celebrates it by drinking alcohol from bowls.
And when he is finally alone, he wonders the exact point in his life when drinking became a very personal thing to him.
Posted in Ramblings.
Tagged with drink, personal.
By wenjie
– June 30, 2009
“One ought, everyday at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and speak a few reasonable words.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The words had stopped. The spark of creativity is long extinguished. I find it harder and harder to write.
The last book I read was months ago, and it was a biography. Everything seems to just dried up. All I think about is work, the only words I type are for work, and the only items that I strike off my to-do lists are all work related. Why is my life revolving around work?
I need to find fuel for my soul, I need to read, I need to write, I need to ignite the spark of creativity, and find back my passion. Passion for life. A reason to live. Something to make feel me alive.
Posted in Ramblings.
Tagged with life, work.
By wenjie
– June 29, 2009
Somewhere along the way, the words stop. And he knows the exact point.
Because in the same exact point, a big part within him died.
Posted in Ramblings.
By wenjie
– June 23, 2009
After leading a guild in World of Warcraft for quite some time, I realised there is a lot in common between leading a guild and managing in work place. As I am getting more and more management responsibilities, I find that it is helpful sometimes to apply what I have learnt from leading a guild. I decided to put down it in words, and perhaps it might be interesting to revisit these in the future and see whether the lessons learnt are still valid.
Lesson #1 – Motivation
Motivation in WoW comes in many form. This is especially evident when in a raid. Different people raid for different reasons. Some raid because they find it fun, some raid for the loot, some raid for the comradeship, and some raid because they like the idea of working in a team to defeat the bosses. Knowing why each and every single guild member’s reasons to raid will give a guild leader a pretty good idea to motivate the guild member to turn up for the raid.
Getting guild members to turn up for raid is make even more difficult by the mere fact that the guild leader has no control over the members’ actions. The guild leader is not their boss who is the one doing their performance evaluation at the end of the year or paying them a monthly salary. As such, playing hard will not be a good idea to ‘force’ the guild members to come for raid. Motivation is the key. And knowing why the guild member raid will give the guild leader a pretty good idea on how to motivate this guild member.
In work place, it is slightly easier given the fact that the manager usually has some kind of authority over his subordinates. However, being too hard on the subordinates will sometimes create resentment, and subordinates may just do the bare minimum if they feel that they are being mistreated. I find that motivation works much better than actually imposing one’s authority on the subordinates.
It may be just a meal, or it may be just be a praise, knowing what drives one to work harder, better, and longer, usually gives me a pretty good idea on how to motivate someone. I also discover that for the same person, different motivation is required at different times. It could be just the promise of a free lunch this time, but the next time, it could be a challenge issued for him to get the system to work better.
Motivation works on myself too. Understanding what drives me allows me to motivate myself in various situations.
Thus conclude this lesson. I will write the next lesson when I feel like it.
Posted in Ramblings, World of Warcraft.
Tagged with work, World of Warcraft.
By wenjie
– June 15, 2009
I just went through a week that I labelled it as ‘Hell Week’ for me. Last week I was told that I will be the person to be presenting a full day demonstration to the client when I thought I was just going to sit in and listen. And on top of that, it was for a product that I have minimal knowledge of.
The team that was responsible for setting up the demonstration, and to their credit, did one hell of a job. After going through with them on the whole setup in half a day, I could see that they were well prepared, which does not necessary settled the butterflies in my stomach. The next day was a full day dry run in front of my big boss, who was very helpful in giving the team constructive pointers. So one and a half day of preparation. Definitely not going to be sufficient for me.
On the actual day of the demonstration, I woke up feeling nauseous and tired. I had not sleep well for a few nights, and the feeling of wanting to vomit was not helping. I kept telling myself, ‘Don’t choke. Don’t choke.’, but I was still feeling thoroughly sick and really nervous.
Throughout the whole demonstration itself, I was lucky to have the whole team of colleagues and my bosses helping me. It went pretty smoothly. I set down in a daze, let out a huge sigh of relief at the end. I was pretty satisfied with myself, and how the whole session went. The few feedbacks we managed to gather at the end seems to confirm that.
The most important thing for me is that I did not choke.
**choking refers to a decrease in performance due to perceived stress. First came across this term when raiding in World of Warcraft.
Posted in Ramblings.
Tagged with career, work.
By wenjie
– June 13, 2009
