How Confucius Did It

If you were like most people who always say, "I'll do charity when I have money", or "I'll take care of my house once I got a big one", then you are having this syndrome called Perfection.

Yes, perfection is an ideal but if you were to base your life on perfection, you'll never do it. Like Confucius who lived in China 2,600 years ago, Confucius continued to teach even when his own country (Lu) was against him. He was chased out of his own country and left wandering in 16 countries for 19 years but he never give up.

Today, Confucius' teachings has become the national culture of many countries like the 2 Koreas, Taiwan and many Chinese in Singapore, Malaysia and North America.

Because Confucius understood this important principle: there is never a perfect time to do anything. As long as that thing you do is of importance to you and the society, now is the time to do it. If you fear that you may do wrong, you can always correct it. The only failure is the failure to participate.

Yes, while you as the manager are teaching your people to work better, you yourself may be having some personal problems, this does not make you less of a teacher. The message that you bring to your people is far more important you the messenger.

So my friend, now is the best time to do anything you want for this year 2013. Don't make the same mistake again as in previous years by procrastinating. Now is the time.

By Andy Ng, Chief Trainer at Asia Trainers, details here.

Comments

What an Executive Coach and Business Coach Does

The Secret Under the Mattress: Why would a 79-year Man Bet So Big on 4D?

It was 2007 when we discovered his secret. While moving my father’s mattress, we found them: heaps and heaps of Singapore Pools 4D tickets. They were stacked in layers, a paper trail of lost hopes. What shocked us most wasn’t just the volume, but the stakes. He wasn’t betting a few dollars for fun. He was punting hundreds of dollars per draw—nearly ten times a month. At the time, my siblings and I were furious. Our father was a 79-year-old retiree. We wondered, with a mix of anger and confusion, why a man at his stage of life would need to win such "big money." What was he going to do with the money? We saw it as a reckless habit, a sign of poor judgment in his final years. Some of us would say, "If I were to give him money to buy 4D, why don't I use the money and buy 4D myself? At least I have better discipline". It has taken me two decades, and the experience of raising my own three grown-up children, to finally see the truth that was hidden under that matt...

Head Bleeding when the Chair Falls

The Weight of Silence: What Were We Really Arguing About? My earliest memories are punctuated by the sound of shouting. In 1970, when I was barely 6 years old, I stood as a small witness to the fierce quarrels between my father and my late eldest brother Kah Yang (he passed away in 1971 at the age of 17). As I grew up, these contradictions became the soundtrack of our lives, usually centered around our family's shoe shop and clothing stalls in Chinatown. In the court of family opinion, the verdict was almost always the same: my father was "wrong." He was judged as a man who didn't fulfill his role, who wasn't "burdening" enough for the family’s success. But as I look back from the vantage point of 2026, I have to ask: Was that actually true? Let me finally put to rest what my father did right: the truths that were buried under decades of criticism: Unseen Labor: He worked grueling, long hours. I remember him hauling boxes of goods and equipment to set u...

Business and Money Tips

Search This Blog