Lessons from Tai Chi

Excerpts from my speech at the Division A Humorous Speech Contest 2009

The Deer and the Tortoise

I want to tell you a story of a Deer and a Tortoise.
The story of the race between deer and the Tortoise is much older than the familiar story of the rabbit and the Tortoise.
This story was written by a well known Chinese philosopher named Zhuang Tze.
Zhuang Tze lived during 400s BC, almost 2500 years ago. He wrote a book, only one book in his life time . There are 37 chapters in this book. And the story of the Deer and the Tortoise is from one of the chapters.
Once upon a time, the Deer and the Tortoise decided to have a race .
At the starting point the Deer was cocky.
“ I am the fastest animal on land. No way you are going to win” said the Deer.
So “ Bang” the race started.
The deer shot forward. After a short while, the deer stop. The deer said to himself “ I am the sure winner , why should I run?” . So he stopped running and take a slow walk. Then he heard a low voice “ Hei! be sportsman, do your best. You cannot stop like this. I am ahead of you.” Sure enough, as the deer looked up , he saw the Tortoise is actually in front of him.
So quickly the deer gave chase. With his long legs and fast speed, he soon over took the Tortoise.
As he was running, he looked forward, and he looked backwards. The Tortoise was no way to be seen. He thought he has out ran the Tortoise this time. So he stopped again. He found himself standing on top of a patch of green grass. As he was about to lower his head to take a bite at some delicious young grass shoot, to his horror, he heard the familiar voice of the Tortoise again. “Run, run, don’t stop. If you stop a gain you will be the loser”. Sure enough, he saw the tortoise was there again, several meters ahead of him.
So he picked up his heels again and ran as fast as he could. He said aloud to himself, “I cannot afford to lose to a slow crawling Tortoise!”
Finally the Deer came to about a few meters from the finishing line, the Deer has a strange feeling. “Hei, it is not possible for the tortoise to run so fast. I am a Deer. He is only the slow Tortoise!” sid the Deer.
He looked back. The tortoise was not there. “Sure,” he said to himself. “The Tortoise cannot be running so fast”.
As he was ready to take the last few steps towards tDe finishing line, heheard the voice of the Tortoise again ! This time, the voice was in front of him.
The deer looked up . To his horror, he saw the Tortoise just crossed the finishing line.
The deer was devastated. He conceded defeat and spent the rest of his life doing nothing but blaming himself for losing the race.
How did the tortoise won the race.
The Tortoise knew he never had a chance. So the night before the race he summon his entire family. He placed them along the entire route including one just at the finishing line. All Tortoise looked alike right. So the Tortoise is guaranteed a win even before the race.
Zhuang Tze, the man who wrote this story was a man who looked at life in a humorous manner. Yet his writing and thoughts have profound effect on Chinese philosophy of life till today.
So what is the moral of the story?
We can quickly list down what we learned from this story.
First from the part of the deer:

• If you want to succeed I anything, do not take success lightly. Even when success seem so easy, do not take it as something that is guaranteed until you have crossed the finishing line.
• To succeed , one must drive towards the set goal with tenacity. If the Deer has ran the race and finished it in one breath, he could have earned himself a chance to declare the race a fraud and give himself an opportunity to ask for a repeat race
• There is no need to sink into self pity even in case of a failure. President Lincoln last 37 elections before winning one to become the president of the United States.

Now from the part of the Tortoise. The Tortoise succeeded because:

• He strategize and plan his race with the stronger Deer.
• He worked with a team.
• He worked with the end in mind.

Do you see parallel examples in Toastmasters? Toastmasters Is teaching us exactly the same thing , right?

• Don’t give up easily
• work with the end in mind
• Plan your work
• Work your plan
• Work with the team etc.

It is all there! What Toastmasters were trying to tell u is also written in an ancient book 2500 years a go !
Do you think the Tortoise has cheated? The tortoise sure did.
So after 85 years developing methodology to promote and improving public speaking, Toastmasters also places great emphasis on the Core values. One of the core values of Toastmasters is "integrity". Never cheat to succeed.

Walk with proven achievers

All great masters learned from great masters before them. This is true in western culture , eastern culture, ancient cultures like that of Egypt, China, India as well as the modern global village we now live in.

It is no coincidence that all the emperors in the past sought the best teachers to teach their children. Or students of Great masters eventually become great artists , great craftmen or accomplished music composers themselves.

Every year parents sweat out in long queues trying to get their children into " famous " or " established" schools. When my daughter received her honours degree, I said this a rare accolade from a "world class university". Indeed , Nanyang Technological University, the university she was reading Biology, consistently ranked top half of the " best 100 University in the world" .

Why must we always learn from the best ?

Good teachers cut short our learning period and inspired us to achieve more.

So we have to learn from this and look for "good mentors" in Toastmasters. Mentors are not for life. Mentors are there only to get us to a good start. Just like Shaolin Kungfu, once you have learned enough, you must leave the mountain, get more experience in the field and constantly looking for a new mentor who will hopefully bring your skills to a higher level.

Some mentors positioned themselves as the yards stick of your success. You do what I did. Don't go too fast. They use their past experience as a benchmark for everything you do. When that limits or slows down your progress , it will be a clear signal that you should look somewhere else for inspirations.

My own motto is " walk with proven achievers". I want to be a good communicator. So I look up to established speakers or leaders with track records. They are my inspirations...... they can do more for me than a teacher can.

Of course , I will still be for ever grateful to all the mentors and teachers who have made me what I am today.

NTU Convocation 2009

Getting ready for my daughter's convocation at Nanyang Technological University tomorrow. Father is more excited then the daughter.........I have a sweet taste of achievement. The feeling is more intense then that I felt at my own convocation 30 years ago at the same venue. Share my joy !

Taichi fan Dance

I have been involved with this Taichi Group for years. Some of you might remember my speech at the Division A Speech Contest last year where I spoke about lessons from Taichi. This video clip was taken at the recent joint Installation Dinner of 8 Toastmasters Club in Johor Bahru.

Joint Installation 2009

Joint Installation
Date : 11th July 2009
Venue: Austin Hill, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Participating Clubs: 8
Attendance : 220 pax
The great performance on Saturday night prove the followings are correct

• That Toastmasters train only "LEADERS"....we do not waste time training followers or "Supervisors" who cannot push performance to a higher level
• That all toastmasters are leaders. ........once given a fixed time slot and 100% control of that time slot,will perform their best.......spurred on only by our total subscription to the Toastmaster Core Values R,I,S,E ....where E is for dedication to Excellence
• That Toastmasters meetings can start on time and end on time, no matter...... how many clubs , how many strangers ( some of you were working with your co-worker for the first time , right?) are involved.
  
• That Toastmasters learn best in team work and moments of enjoyment.......as Dr Ralph Smedley rightly put it.
• That Toastmasters who reach out to test their skills in Communication, like taking part in this Joint Installation Dinner for 8 clubs, are handsomely rewarded...... every time.

Toastmasters clubs in Johor Bahru has come a long way. From a humble singular Johor Bahru Toastmasters club , the number of clubs has mushroomed. When I took over as the Division Governor, I had a vision. I called it vision 2020. That means 20 clubs with minimum 20 members each. That vision is now fast becoming a reality. We are at the verge of being able to form a independent division here in Johor Bahru.

Life passion

Toastmasters taught me many things I did not learn from school.

When I was working for a Multinational European firm, I benefited most as a
Asian , the ability to speak up when needed.

Later in life when I begin to command more respect and have climbed to the
higher rungs of the corporate ladder, I gained from Toastmasters the ability
to set goals, make actions plans, and deal with people, including the
difficult ones.

Toastmasters is all about communication. Communication means we have to
interact with more than one human being. Communication skills are best
learned by working in a team. So I have always put emphasis on working
in a team even when sometimes working alone seems the easier way out. And I
continuously create opportunities for team work, sub committees, joint
meetings, conventions, and of late, the Joint Installation Dinner.

After 30 years of continuous membership, I make Toastmasters my passion,
my way of life.