One of my favorite movie scenes of all time comes from the film Limitless. Bradley Cooper plays Eddie – a down-and-out loser who’s struggling in his career as a writer. He comes across NZT-48 – a “smart drug” that lets him access 100% of his brain instead of the usual 10% (this is a myth, but hey, […]
Last week, I found myself standing in front of a crowd of ten people. Everyone was staring at me. One guy was frowning. I was feeling a little jumpy. I wondered whether my fly was open. Crap – I couldn’t remember my opening. I had no idea what to do with my hands. I remembered that “thought
Ugh, I swear if I read another life-coach blogpost talking about “SMART goals”, I’m going to stab myself in the eye with a plateful of ikan bilis. Today, SMART is THE cliche of the personal development world. It’s the equivalent of a student ending his essay with, “…And then he realised it was just a dream.” It makes us all roll out eyes.
So the wifey and I were at the supermarket this weekend (because that’s what married Singaporean couples do on weekends, amirite?). As you know, I’m fascinated by the psychology of sales. So while we were shopping, I started to observe the promoters who were scattered around the supermarket. You know the ones I’m talking about: Those
(Short post today because I’m travelling again this week) I have to do a lot of pitches in my line of work. In the past, I used to equate pitches with presentations. I’d prepare a huge deck of slides, rehearse the important points until I could confidently rattle them off, and then sit back and
First, let’s get this out of the way: We all use Facebook on the toilet. Don’t even try to deny it – I know you’ve done it. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I had a friend whose family kept a stash of Archie comics on the toilet to help pass the time when they’re
Last week, I had the privilege of speaking at a careers event. Over 100 bright-eyed students/young working adults were packed into a hotel ballroom, listening to entrepreneurs and industry titans talk about their careers. Pretty much everyone who stepped on stage said some variation of “follow your passion”. Find what you love! If you love
Short post today because I’m in New York this week catching the 4th of July fireworks! Yesterday, the wifey and I headed to Blue Bottle Coffee at Rockefeller Centre to grab a cup of Kenya drip coffee. As we waited for our coffee, we started watching a geeky-looking Asian barista behind the counter. She wore
Last week, I blogged about how it’s lame when fresh grads say, “I wanna earn $4k!”, with absolutely zero basis. I showed you a specific strategy on how to figure out the job to target, research the market rate, and set your ambitious salary target that’s won’t cause the interviewer to laugh in your face. But wait –
