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The Top 5 Most Over-Rated Traits

Sep 18, 2008 life

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The world has changed a lot, from even just a few years ago. And as such, the traits that were important in the past are arguably not as important today. So, here’s a list of what I think to be the most over-rated traits, in no particular order.

Hard Work

Or rather, ‘long’ work. Even today, kids in school are thought to believe that if they’re not doing well, they should study longer and try harder. We are taught to think that working longer would lead to better results. I don’t think that’s true anymore. As Seth Godin has said, “Hard work is about risk“. It’s not the number of hours you put in that matters, it’s not necessarily how hard you try. It’s about what you are trying - how many approaches, etc.

Being Reasonable

To quote George Bernard Shaw, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man adapts the world to himself. All progress depends upon the unreasonable man.” That says it all, really.

Modesty

I don’t know about other cultures, but this is one of the biggest problems I find in Singapore. Yes, humility is all well and good, and too much arrogance isn’t a good thing. But on the flip side, you shouldn’t always be playing down your contributions or talents (as too many people, in my opinion, do over here). If you did a good job, take credit for it, you deserve it. Humility isn’t about playing down your strengths, it’s about admitting both your strengths and your weaknesses in balance.

Discipline

Yes, it can be argued that rules are there for a reason. But sometimes, you have to break the rules. That’s why I love House (the TV show). House, the doctor, often breaks the rules. He goes with what he believes is right, even if it’s against normal procedure. He takes risks, and it’s those risks that saves lives and makes him such a good doctor. To take a quote from the show, “the rules exist because 95% of the time for 95% of the people, they’re the right thing to do.” That doesn’t mean that it’s always the right thing to do. There are times when you have to break the rules - or at the very least, you should be thinking about the rules and willing to break them.

Persistence

Before you start jumping on my back, let me clarify this. Persistence is good, in some cases. It’s good when you know what you’re doing, when you believe firmly in it, when you know why you’re persisting. But persisting for the sake of it, just because you don’t want to quit, is not a good idea, and it’s something that too many people do. In some cases, it’s better to quit. Sometimes, you hit a dead end, what you’re doing doesn’t work anymore, and the best thing you can do is quit (for more information on this, read The Dip by Seth Godin). The trick is knowing when to quit, and when to persist.

There are probably more that I can think of, but those are 5 of the most over-rated traits, in my opinion, at least. Do you agree? Why (or why not)?

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Tags: Cul-de-sac, ego, humility, over rated, reasonable, risk, seth godin, traits

Some Great People to Check Out

Sep 2, 2008 People

Over the past summer, I had the honor of being involved in an internship with Seth Godin and Squidoo. I was one of the virtual interns, part of a Basecamp group which got to try out different stuff. It was interesting and I got to interact with a lot of great people - really creative, intelligent students from around the world. It was a huge pleasure and honor to get to interact with Seth himself as well.

Anyway, as part of the internship, Seth has posted a PDF of handmade bios of some of the interns. Yes, I have a page in there, but that’s not why I’m sharing it. I’m sharing it because there are 15 other really intelligent, creative, awesome people mentioned there, who I highly recommend you check out. You might find someone who you’d want to work with or connect with (given the quality of the people there, you probably will).

So yeah, here’s the PDF.

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Tags: internship, People, seth godin, squidoo

Providing Better Performance Isn’t Enough

Jun 20, 2008 Marketing, Random

Seth Godin posted some thoughts on the Amazon Kindle. Great ideas, as always, from him.

Here’s the part of the post that really struck me, though.

clipped from sethgodin.typepad.com

Word processing didn’t work because it was typing but a little
cheaper. It worked because it was better than typing. Email didn’t work
because it was mail but a little faster. It worked because it was
fundamentally better than snail mail…

It’s not about improving performance. Just an improved performance will not be enough to make people want to use your product.

It’s about making something that’s fundamentally different. Something that’s better, that redefines what the task is. As Guy Kawasaki puts it, it’s about jumping to the next curve.

Merely providing better performance isn’t enough.

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Tags: guy kawasaki, innovation, kindle, performance, revolutionary, seth godin

It’s not (just) about providing good content

May 16, 2008 People

Image via Wikipedia

I haven’t done these short posts - that mainly reiterate what someone else has said - in a while. But I figured, this was a really important point worth making (Mitch, hope you don’t mind me ‘hijacking’ your post).

Mitch Joel (who you really should be reading, if you aren’t already) recently wrote about Seth Godin. It’s a really good post, worth reading. In it, he writes about Seth Godin’s speaking style.

After Seth’s keynote this morning, I reviewed the notes that I was taking (which, for the record, I do on my BlackBerry) and I had a huge realization. The notes had nothing to do with what he was saying and everything to do with a fistful of creative sparks that were inspired by what he was saying. Stuff I need to get doing… now.

That’s a great lesson.

It’s not just about providing good content - in your blogs, speeches, whatever. It’s about how you inspire people, what ideas you give.

How are you inspiring people through your conversations?

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Tags: conversations, inspiration, mitch joel, seth godin, speeches

Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep

May 2, 2008 Personal

So, I was supposed to be enlisting for National Service (2 years of compulsory army for all Singaporean guys). When I applied, one of the papers mentioned that my enlistment should be within 6 months of my application. When I went for my medical, the person there told me that I would be enlisted by either March/April or the at least by June/July. And that I’d only get my letter a month or so before.

Because of that, I haven’t been able to do much all year. I didn’t know how long I had before enlistment, so I couldn’t really commit myself to anything. And yesterday, my mum went down to the Central Manpower Base to check, and was told that my enlistment would be in September.

I’m seriously really pissed off about this. Firstly, and most importantly, they lied. I was told I’d be enlisted by June/July, and that didn’t happen. I know that circumstances change and all, but if that was the case, they shouldn’t have told me as if it was a fact that I’d be in by July. They might be the government, and there’s probably nothing much I can do about it, but it’s still really annoying to be lied to. Maybe I’m over-reacting. But even though they’re the government, they still shouldn’t make promises they can’t keep. Rather, especially since they’re the government, they shouldn’t. I’ve seriously lost trust in them because of this.

The second reason, albeit less important, I’m pissed about this is because it’s wasting my time. It’s wasted half a year of my life waiting. I’m now rushing and struggling to find a summer program/internship to do. So if anyone has any suggestions or offers, let me know, yeah? (I have no qualms about travelling, if required.)

If I had known from the start that chances are I’d be enlisted in September, I wouldn’t be pissed. I’d have planned accordingly. And I’d still have been able to do a lot. I would probably have applied for Seth Godin’s internship (I’m not saying I would have definitely got in, but I’d have loved to at least had the chance to try). I would have gone to California with my mum earlier this year. I would have applied for a summer institute. But because I was told that I would be enlisted by July, I didn’t. And I’ve missed lots of opportunities.

I guess it all comes down to this. It’s not really about the date itself. It’s about what I was told - what I was led to believe and expect. Don’t tell me something and not deliver on it. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

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Tags: National Service, over-promise, promises, seth godin, trust, under-deliver

Who are you writing for?

Apr 4, 2008 Personal

Seth Godin recently asked that question.

Are you writing for the first time visitor? Or for the one who has been following you since the start?

I’d like to throw in a third part. Or are you writing for yourself?

That third question is the one I’m struggling with a bit lately. Where do you draw the line between being expressing your thoughts about what matters to you and writing about what people are interested in?

If you go too far to the former, you run the risk of being insignificant - speaking with nobody listening. And that’s not what I want this blog to be about. I don’t want it to be a ghost town, or just me ranting to nobody. I hope to be able to be part of a community, and make an impact on people.

But on the other hand, if I drift too far to the latter, is it compromising on authenticity and who I am?

And that’s not even going into the tone and style of writing.

Honestly, it’s something I’m still trying to figure out. It’s a tough balance, in my opinion, and I’m not sure. Any suggestions?

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Tags: audience, authenticity, blogging, community, seth godin, writing