I will Lead not Follow
I will believe not doubt
I will create not destroy
I am a force for good
I am a leader
Defy the odds
Set a new standard
STEP UP! STEP UP! STEP UP !
Promise yourself never to settle. Never settle for less than you can be / do / give /create.
Never go back to the same standard. Hold the new higher standard. Surround yourself with the right people. Commit to MUST and not should. Find what works, shift your belief system, get stronger. Step UP !!
Plateau, a word that is ever so frequently used in sports.
A plateau, also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain
So, in sports, it basically means one has come to a “flat”
Similarly, I think, at work, in career, there is such a plateau phase too. It’s called a different name but similar meaning.
Burnout.
We often heard of people say they are burn out in their job / work / career. It’s phase where one just do not find that drive, that interest, that gangho-ness in meeting the demands / challenge anymore, often time, not rising to the challenge even.
Common to both Plateau & Burnout is prior to it there is a phase of extended total immersion on what one is doing. Some established large organization has a mandatory rotation of employees to different departments. I guess, it’s partly a way to address the issue of staff Burnout and in the process create a sense of belonging to the business.
However, majority of the organizations out there do not have / support such arrangement thus partly contributed to attrition rate, especially in organization with highly demanding & stressful work environment, eg. long hours, no work life balance. Instead of recognizing the issue & nip it at the bud, many employers brand such employees as having short attention span, jumpy, no tenancity, easily bored, etc etc. Now, let me make clear the exclusion of people who change job every other year in the name of seeking career advancement, better pay & in hope for better position & bla bla bla. They are totally different.
Back to the subject. Often time, people who has burn out are people who has given their best to their organization. They are usually the hardworkers, committed & most of all, performers.
In sports, this phase is expected and one can plan ahead to tackle the issue. One can take a short break from the training schedule, have a retreat and plan radically change of one’s training regime to totally shake it out, set new goals & heights in order to come back stronger.
What can an Employees do then ?
I do not have the expert solution here. But applying it to myself, it just affirm my observation of late.
Employees have to anticipate the plateau, the burnout themselves. In anticipation, other aspects will have to be considered in the plan. The key one will be financial planning. An employee with a strong foundation of financial planning, ie.
Yes, it is easier said then done. However, it’s the employees’ life at stake. Unlike our parent’s time, it’s not the corporate’s responsibility to give you the job / income security in this year & age anymore.
So, do you want to hand your security to someone else who doesn’t care and be “killed” during a plateau or do you want to be smart, plan & execute a solid financial portfolio, take charge of your job / career & thus your life ?
Food for thought, both U & me. 
Today, my Anthony Robbins Master coach tweet a statement : “Try not to become a person of success but a person of value” - Albert Einstein and posted this video. Awesome one, Steve. Thanx
His devotion to what seem like the lowest of rank job, handing out water, keep the team enthusiastic, toweling down the players sweat for couple of years. Yes, he carries the title “manager” and he serves humbly. 2 years. and this is the awesome day after he was at it for
How many of us think that life is unfair, people are unfair, especially when things aren’t looking so good, situation is difficult ? How many of us blame every dayem external things / factors for what we fail to do or achieve ?
Lack of resources, Lack of opportunity, Lack of support, Lack of $$, Lack of guidance, nobody tell me, ……………….the list goes on & on & on….
Is it really ? Have we look into the mirror and stare at the person who’s ultimate responsible & accountable & and face up to it with an honest soul search ? ermmm……
I guess, if you have the attitude & the beatittude, nothing can stop you.
Why March ?…..Last Sat’s Star News
It was Sat Morning and I grabbed my Sat newspapers before my morning coffee & breakfast. The front page title : Why March ? It was referring those who are marching for the abolishment of ISA and Why March ? is the supposed response by the current PM. His geese of things was :
From these two statements, it is obvious the PM is not listening despite the people are speaking out loud. So, Why march ? Don’t get me wrong, I am not for demonstration nor destruction. However, it is almost everytime, EVERYTIME!, a peaceful gathering sparks violent / injury because the authority, mainly the FRU & the police who initiate the use of hard hand & force. It was NEVER the civilian /the marchers and then twist the truth to say the march / demonstration is a threat to the nation security. It was never a threat the nation security but certainly a threat to we all know who. ISA was not to protect the national interest but to protect we all know who. So, it shows one simple fact : the government, the malaysia government’s hypocracy and dictatorship form.
Today, I saw this online posting note and I thought it was well said by the author.
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Why march, when the Government has said that it will review the ISA?
Why march, when there are other very cozy ways of giving your views and feedback?
One would understand if these were questions posed by 9 year olds. But they are not. They are questions posed by the Prime Minister of this nation we call our home. Answer we must.
So, why?
Because Teoh Beng Hock, Kugan, Ulaganathan, and thousands of others who perished while in detention cannot march or speak any more. That is why others have to do it for them. There are growing numbers of Malaysians who want to put a stop to treating human lives as casually as cows passing through an abattoir.
Because persons who look like Lingam and sound like Lingam, persons who thrive in the corridors of power, persons who have amassed tremendous wealth and live in mansions worth anywhere between RM3 million and RM30 million (or above), and persons who are in the position to right wrongs but won’t, continue to rule our nation with suffocating might. And they certainly would not march. They would prevent others from marching.
Because the have-nots, the sidelined, the oppressed, the discriminated, and the persecuted have no effective line to the powerful.
Because the nice ways have been tried ad nauseam for decades, but have fallen on deaf ears. Because none of the major recommendations of Suhakam (including on peaceful assembly), or of the Commissions of Enquiry, has been implemented. Because IPCMC is not in sight, while corruption and insecurity live in every neighbourhood; and (despite reasoned views expressed ever so nicely in opposition) you are bent on bringing in RELA to make matters even worse.
The proponents in “Su Qiu” (remember them?) were not marchers. In fact it is hard to find nicer ways than “su qiu”, because the term means “present and request” or “inform and request”. In terms of putting forward a view or a request, it is the height of politeness. Yet they were labeled “extremists” - they who did not march.
And now you ask, why march?
Because you gave non-marchers a false name! You called them the “silent majority”, who by virtue of their silence (so you proudly argued with twisted logic) were supporters of government policies since they were not vocal in raising objections. You claimed to be protecting the interest of the “silent majority”. Now some of them do not want to be silent anymore, and you are asking why?
Yes, because double standards and hypocrisy cannot be covered up or explained away forever; and incompetence cannot be indefinitely propped up by depleting resources.
Because cronyism can only take care of a few people, and the rest will eventually wake up to realize the repeated lies that things were done in certain ways purportedly “for their benefit”.
Because the race card, cleverly played for such a long time, is beginning to be seen for what it really is – a despicable tool to divide the Rakyat for easier political manipulation.
Because it does not take much to figure out that there is no good reason why Malaysia, a country with abundant human resources and rich natural resources, does not have a standard of living many times higher than that of Singapore, an island state with no natural resources and that has to import human resources from Malaysia and elsewhere.
Because, in general, countries that do not persecute marchers are prosperous or are improving from their previous state of affairs, and those that do are either declining or have become failed states.
Because Gandhi marched, Mandela marched, Martin Luther King marched, and Tunku Abdul Rahman marched.
Because more and more people realize that peaceful assemblies are no threat at all to the security of the nation, although they are a threat to the security of tenure of the ruling elite.
Because politicians do not mean it when they say with a straight face or a smile that they are the servants and that the people are the masters. No servant would treat his master with tear gas, batons and handcuffs.
Because if the marchers in history had been stopped in their tracks, places like India, Malaysia and many others will still be colonies today, apartheid will still be thriving in South Africa, Nelson Mandela will still be scribbling on the walls of Cell 5, and Obama is probably a slave somewhere in Mississippi plotting to make his next midnight dash for the river.
And because liberty, freedom and dignity are not free vouchers posted out to each household. They do not come to those who just sit and wait. They have to be fought for, and gained.
And if you still want to ask: why march; I can go on and on until the last tree is felled. But I shall obviously not.
Asking why someone wants to march is as backward and mischievous as asking why she wants freedom, or why she wants equality. The proper question is: why can’t she have freedom and equality?
So, it is not a question of why people would want to march, but why can’t they? It is absolutely tragic when 21st century leaders have to be reminded of 16th century ills.
I will end with the following lines from one of the songs sung in the 1960s by civil rights marchers in the USA, without whom Obama will not be able to even sit with the whites in a bus, let alone reside in the White House:
“It isn’t nice to block the doorway
It isn’t nice to go to jail
There are nicer ways to do it
But the nice ways have all failed
It isn’t nice; it isn’t nice
You’ve told us once, you’ve told us twice
But if that’s freedom’s price
We don’t mind………….”
Yeo Yang Poh, 1/8/09