"In my time, we had no idea really about what was required of us. Nobody was particularly ambitious, the 4Cs were not a part of our vocabulary, we didn't get too worked up and we didn't over-plan our lives. (words in bold my emphasis)
"Nowadays, when i interview students applying for scholarships, i am constantly struck by how they have mapped out their lives. They are so focused and results-oriented that i find it difficult to identify potential leaders. Everyone is so accomplished and has the same CV."
- Prof Pang, NUS 100 Years Young, Sunday Times 25 June, 2005
Of course Prof Pang is talking about those academically accomplished youths of my generation who, notwithstanding their exceptional intelligence, have unfailingly impressed him with their determined focus in their studies and above all in their lives. His observation could well be extended to a larger group of people, those who perhaps are just as successful and smart but who didn't get a scholarship, either by choice or otherwise. I know - because, more often than not, i frequently come across such people who impress me with their admirable clarity of vision of what they want not just presently, but many years down the road. An ex-classmate of mine belongs to this category: he is holding an SAF scholarship; knows what he wants to achieve from his undergraduate years; is working furiously and focusedly for it; and he also knows when he wants to get married, have kids, retire - and god knows what after that.
The experts are probably right that people who are successful in life have a purposeful focus in their life; these people know what they want, they identify goals and work hard towards achieving them. Which is why whenever one attends seminars or workshops that have anything remotely to do with self-improvement or being successful in life, one can be sure that the aforementioned axiom will be referred to in one way or another. It may therefore not be preposterous that Life can be likened to some sort of equation, where Success/Happiness/Self-fufillment equals Goals + Appropriate means of pursuit + Certain Necessary traits such as peserverance and dilligence. For surely there are some broad commonalities that successful people share, and therein lies the secret formula to success in life which people yearn to acquire and others gladly dish out in various disguises while making a few big bucks out of it. Intelligence alone does not guarantee you a ticket to a successful career or life; neither does a lack of it means the doors of success in life are closed to you. What's more important, it seems, is to know what you want and make plans on how you want to go about realising it. These seeming axioms are perhaps to be believed, for this is at least what Prof Pang, who has interviewed many a bright mind for some time perhaps, revealed in his statement about the characteristics of some people amongst us - people who are destined for greater things in life, like getting a scholarship, having an enviable career, attaining financial wealth, social status etc.
I am none of the above, have attained none of those 'greater things in life' - yet - and just might never get close enough to any of them in the near and far future. Yet you may still accuse me of so disappointingly exhibiting such narrow-minded views of yardsticks of success. Have i not, after all, been swept by Prof Pang's remark and talked only about academic success and the 4Cs that he spoke of? Indeed i alluded to these as part of the symbols of success, along with the more general success of achieving what one wants in his or her individual life. But this wasn't what prompted me to write this piece.
It was Prof Pang's reminiscence of his time and his observation of today's students (undergraduates) that caught my attention. That struck a chord because for a moment, i thought (or wished) i ought to belong to his generation. He did at least painted what seem to me a picture of an idyllic student's life, as compared to the frenectic goal-oriented world i am unmistakably immersed within today. Prof Pang said thus: "...we didn't get too worked up and we didn't over-plan our lives."
Tell me he is exaggerating when he suggested that my peers over-plan their lives. But he who has done many interviews surely must be speaking from what he has seen, heard and observed. It can't be too far from the truth, especially when my own experiences match his observation. Earlier I talked about what seems like the formula to attaining success because this much can be inferred from Prof Pang's remarks. At the very least, those people who get scholarship or remarkable grades, or who later succeed in living their ideal lives - they seem to adhere to the rough formula that has been suggested here, implying a certain desirable route to the pathways of success.
These people scare me. These people, who 'have mapped out their lives', who 'are so focused and results oriented', make me embarrassed, guilty, ashamed and worried - a gamut of emotions that have me pondering over my somewhat under-planned life each time i read or hear about them. More than evoking feelings of envy or jealousy, they are an antithetical reflection of my seeming lack of aspirations and underachievement. I haven't thought so far, and while i marvel at how some people seem so confident and optimistic and certain of their future, of what they want to achieve, i have doubts about how far 'planning' for your life is ideal or possible. I have more question marks and uncertainties swirling in my mind than plans and answers. Planning and knowing what one wants certainly provides direction in one's life, and everyone needs a direction to lead them. But i am not directionless even as i am unsure what my next step in life should be and what i ultimately want for myself. The frailty of life is such that there are innumerable others who had had their lives terminated abruptly, their dreams and plans consequently extinguished. Planning too far, and too much, may not always be of use.
However i do believe that what will come, will come. Plan or without plan, one's life is laying out and being lived out every conscious minute that passes. Before you know it, you are not living according to your plans, but living a life whose every detail is what you are destined to play out.
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