Lessons Learned

38th Annual General Meeting of PKPMI-CB. Me on the podium

It has been a year since the post 'Experience is the Best Teacher'. Time flies so fast, a year has passed, and yesterday was the end of my term as Chairperson of the Malaysian Student Association. So, was 'experience the best teacher' for the past one year? Yes, sirree! Here are the top 10 lessons I've learned through experience:

1. A small act is actually larger than the biggest dreams, so it's okay to dream big, but start small. Like, asking?
   
2. Doing something, even small things is better than sitting down worrying. Worrying is like a rocking chair, you know. It gives you something to do but gets you nowhere
   
3. Not everyone thinks like you. Even if you think it's the most obvious thing, another person would think it isn't. The beauty of diversity. So, as what Stephen Covey always say: seek first to understand, then to be understood
4. Nothing is easier than talking, but nothing is harder than walking the talk. So, always under promise but over deliver
   
5. Leadership ain't a popularity contest. You don't make the popular decision for people to like you, you make the right decision. You'll have your critics, of course, but so what? They won't show up at your deathbed anyway
   
6. Get fit to lead, it's so depressing when you're sick but have so much things to do
   
7. Take a break once in awhile
   
8. Success don't last forever, but experience do. So don't become obsessed with past glory, but use the experiences to tackle new challenges with the spirit of a beginner
   
9. The past, however glorious or miserable it is, is still the past. Today is a new beginning. That's why its called the 'present'
   
10. Life is too short to be miserable!