Gutenhag Private Limited

2-3-4: Why you work harder than your colleague, but you're not getting the credit

2026-06-19T03:40:10-04:00

2-3-4 Friday: Be low stress

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

Growing up, I was always hustling. To revise for Singapore’s famed Primary School Leaving Examinations, I’d wake up at 4am. Study. Then go to school.

This persisted, all the way till today. So much so that if you meet me at work, I’d probably have a strong resting bitch face, looking fierce, angry, and unapproachable. It’s got me this far, but I’ve come to see that it no longer works if you want to climb any higher in your corporate career.

I never used to understand why people would say,

that guy can’t do the work, but everyone likes him.

I used to think that was about being well-liked, which I couldn’t care less about. But I’ve come to see that it is actually about being low-stress.

Low-stress, not well liked.

My entrepreneur friend loves telling me,

if you ever find yourself working too hard, you’re probably working wrong.

Do you find yourself resentful, angry, and frustrated? Wondering why you’re working so hard, but not getting anywhere compared to the person who’s just seemingly slacking, not getting much work done, but who keeps getting promoted?

We’ve all seen that in our lives. The person who’s incompetent, but yet keeps getting promoted.

Why? Because the truth is:

People like those that make them feel unthreatened.
They hate people who are seemingly outperforming them, not giving them the credit.

How do you beat them? First it’s acknowledging that the world is not fair, and not to beat them at their game. They’re probably better at talking, playing and everything else. But what you can do is to be low-stress.

Deliberately give yourself resting space to grow your work.

1 talk

If you look at athletes, they aren’t training 12 hour days. They are doing quick sprints of 1-2 hours, then they rest, and they restart for the end of the day, and then they go back to doing the same thing the next day.

1 tip

For a long time, we’ve always prided hustle culture. I used to wear it like a badge of honor, telling people that I’d worked the long 8-5pm job, before going onto my business in the night.

But I’m increasingly learning that’s stupid. Because it leaves you in a state of high tension, hardly able to relax, and improve.

So the answer isn’t to work harder. It’s about giving yourself space to recover. It’s about telling yourself

I will work from 9-5pm (or whatever hours are most productive for you. For example, if your office is most noisy, then go find a quiet spot to knock out those two productive hours, and then knock out the rest doing low-value work like emails).
I will work my best during those hours.
For the rest of the hours at night, I will do things I enjoy.

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

Yours,
John
Voicesmith, liveyoungandwell.com

Crane Joo Chiat, 281 Joo Chiat Rd
Singapore Singapore 427535
SINGAPORE

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2-3-4: Your slacker colleague is getting the credit. Here's why.

2026-06-19T03:38:52-04:00

2-3-4 Friday: Be low stress

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

Growing up, I was always hustling. To revise for Singapore’s famed Primary School Leaving Examinations, I’d wake up at 4am. Study. Then go to school.

I never used to understand why people would say,

that guy can’t do the work, but everyone likes him.

I used to think that was about being well-liked, which I couldn’t care less about. But I’ve come to see that it is actually about being low-stress.

Low-stress, not well liked.

My entrepreneur friend loves telling me,

if you ever find yourself working too hard, you’re probably working wrong.

We’ve all seen that in our lives. The person who’s incompetent, but yet keeps getting promoted.

Deliberately give yourself resting space to grow your work.

1 talk

1 tip

For a long time, we’ve always prided hustle culture. I used to wear it like a badge of honor, telling people that I’d worked the long 8-5pm job, before going onto my business in the night.

But I’m increasingly learning that’s stupid. Because it leaves you in a state of high tension, hardly able to relax, and improve.

So the answer isn’t to work harder. It’s about giving yourself space to recover. It’s about telling yourself

I will work from 9-5pm (or whatever hours are most productive for you. For example, if your office is most noisy, then go find a quiet spot to knock out those two productive hours, and then knock out the rest doing low-value work like emails).
I will work my best during those hours.
For the rest of the hours at night, I will do things I enjoy.

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

Yours,
John
Voicesmith, liveyoungandwell.com

Crane Joo Chiat, 281 Joo Chiat Rd
Singapore Singapore 427535
SINGAPORE

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2-3-4: This June, be lazy. Don't do good. Here's why.

2026-06-14T06:31:56-04:00

2-3-4 Friday: How to keep doing good?

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

Dear friend, thank you for doing your bit of good for people, and organisations over the years. It’s always unspoken, always underestimated, but that’s not to say it’s unimportant.

But it can feel that way, especially when there’s always little validation. So this email hopefully brings you some practical hope, and handles in keeping whatever good you’re doing alive, and encouraged.

I used to be a social worker. But I soon realised that I was probably the worst one anyone could get. In one instance, I had established a good relationship with one client. But one evening, as we were sitting in a combined poetry class, I noticed him using his phone. I brusquely said,

eh, programme cannot use phone.

He looked at me, and stared me down for the next 10 seconds. The ones around him thought we were going to get into a fight. I quickly said,

sorry, sorry. Relax.

But as I reflected on what had gone on that night, I realised he was disturbed not because I had called him out, but because I had openly shamed him.

I’d left him no dignity.

As humans, we all want, and desire dignity. We want to feel respected for what we do.

How to be lighthearted about your boss - imagine him in …

You remember that time when you sat in a meeting, having prepared for a few days the deck, and your boss barely even making mention of it? Or the times you gave sleepless nights worrying about a particular outcome, achieving it, and then having someone else take the credit?

Or worse still, the time where you’re openly called out and criticized, left with no face in front of others?

Well, those are the times where you’d lost some of your dignity.

Teo You Yenn, in her book “This is What Inequality Looks Like” says,

Dignity is like clean air.

You won’t know it’s gone - until it is.

And this is alot of what doing good is about.

Giving people clean air to breathe.

I don’t think we theoretically disagree with the notion of giving people dignity. But why is it so hard for people to still find the dignity?

We know we can’t control what people think.
We can’t change what people feel.

So how we can be little spots of clean air, wherever we go?

1 talk

Dignity is like clean air.

You don’t know you’ve lost it till it’s gone.

1 tip

Be willing to ask, and receive. I saw this most pertinently with a woman founder who’s been running a ground-up initiative around her neighbourhood. In that initiative, they open up tables by the roadside every month, and invite neighbors from around the block to play games, slide down the playground, and chat over some food. In that WhatsApp group, I saw a message today sharing that someone in the community had a broken mini-fridge.

This woman founder was now asking for a fridge on behalf of him.

From one angle, I thought,

this founder is very well-to-do. Can’t she just buy the fridge and send it to him?

But then I realised doing that wouldn’t help.

Because it would enable the continued dependence of the community on her, rather than allowing it to be self-sustaining.

So as contrarian as this sounds, in doing good, it’s sometimes learning when to step back, so that others can help.

Because you and I can’t save the world - but with others, we might just have a better chance.

If you don’t make those asks, activate the community, and get their help, you would find yourself, bitter, and sour.

I will close with this story. In October 2021, in my last ever visit to a family I was working with, the mother in the family told me she’d treat me to dinner. I was sheepish. They were earning $1200 a month, and it was difficult enough to survive. That night, she brought me to a restaurant from her hometown. Hearing her laugh, and banter with those colleagues from her hometown, in her native tongue, I finally saw her for who she was.

Not a needy client, but someone who could also give back.

And so sometimes, doing good is about taking a step back, and letting others have the space to build, and breathe their own air.

It’s not about smothering and suffocating them with your help and love.

So the question becomes,

How can I help him help himself? NOT
How can I help him?

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

Read You Yenn's book "This is What Inequality Looks Like"

Yours,
John
Voicesmith, liveyoungandwell.com

Crane Joo Chiat, 281 Joo Chiat Rd
Singapore Singapore 427535
SINGAPORE

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2-3-4: If you're tired of constantly doing good...

2026-06-14T06:30:55-04:00

2-3-4 Friday: How to keep doing good?

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

Dear friend, thank you for doing your bit of good for people, and organisations over the years. It’s always unspoken, always underestimated, but that’s not to say it’s unimportant.

eh, programme cannot use phone.

He looked at me, and stared me down for the next 10 seconds. The ones around him thought we were going to get into a fight. I quickly said,

sorry, sorry. Relax.

But as I reflected on what had gone on that night, I realised he was disturbed not because I had called him out, but because I had openly shamed him.

I’d left him no dignity.

As humans, we all want, and desire dignity. We want to feel respected for what we do.

How to be lighthearted about your boss - imagine him in …

Or worse still, the time where you’re openly called out and criticized, left with no face in front of others?

Well, those are the times where you’d lost some of your dignity.

Teo You Yenn, in her book “This is What Inequality Looks Like” says,

Dignity is like clean air.

You won’t know it’s gone - until it is.

And this is alot of what doing good is about.

Giving people clean air to breathe.

I don’t think we theoretically disagree with the notion of giving people dignity. But why is it so hard for people to still find the dignity?

We know we can’t control what people think.
We can’t change what people feel.

So how we can be little spots of clean air, wherever we go?

1 talk

Dignity is like clean air.

You don’t know you’ve lost it till it’s gone.

1 tip

This woman founder was now asking for a fridge on behalf of him.

From one angle, I thought,

this founder is very well-to-do. Can’t she just buy the fridge and send it to him?

But then I realised doing that wouldn’t help.

Because it would enable the continued dependence of the community on her, rather than allowing it to be self-sustaining.

So as contrarian as this sounds, in doing good, it’s sometimes learning when to step back, so that others can help.

Because you and I can’t save the world - but with others, we might just have a better chance.

If you don’t make those asks, activate the community, and get their help, you would find yourself, bitter, and sour.

Not a needy client, but someone who could also give back.

And so sometimes, doing good is about taking a step back, and letting others have the space to build, and breathe their own air.

It’s not about smothering and suffocating them with your help and love.

So the question becomes,

How can I help him help himself? NOT
How can I help him?

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

Read You Yenn's book "This is What Inequality Looks Like"

Yours,
John
Voicesmith, liveyoungandwell.com

Crane Joo Chiat, 281 Joo Chiat Rd
Singapore Singapore 427535
SINGAPORE

Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options

2-3-4: It's June (!), how do you get closer to your goals?

2026-06-07T04:47:59-04:00

2-3-4 Friday: 6 months have passed...

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

It’s 6 months into the year. How are you doing? No seriously, how are you? If you’re glad at how far you’ve come, then good on you. I was recently looking back at the first half of the year, and wondering how I’d come to achieve all these over the years.

Not that I think I’m particularly great, but it’s precisely because I know that I’m average, not smarter than most, that I wonder just how I’ve gotten to this place. For example, starting out without any business knowledge, and contacts in the media industry, I knew it was an uphill battle to build any sort of content agency. But being able to sit down week after week, and ask myself two simple questions.

What was working, and why?
What was not?

This helped me to see that just sending cold emails to people asking if I could market for them, was a waste of my time. Doing SEO, was probably more worth it.

So building what I have today is because of God, but the other part is because of this persistent desire to reflect, and learn.

I used to think myself crazy for just shutting myself in a random room on university, writing down all the things I was proud of, and what I could improve on. I was living in the most beautiful part of England, and I just couldn’t seem to enjoy it. I did enjoy the pushing of myself though.

So life is not lived in the setting of goals, but the constant resetting of them. We often forget this in our pursuit of life. So it’s easy for me to tell you,

Hey, do this review every month. At a set time.

Despite us knowing it’s good, we don’t do it. Why? Because we think,

ah, this will take some time. I will need a quiet space.

But really, you don’t need anything special.

You just need to want change enough.

1 talk

Life is not the setting of goals, but the constant resetting of them.

1 tip

A few weeks ago I was talking to my friend about how we chose partners. I told him that I would prefer that we shared the same Christian faith, and as he steered his Bentley, I could see that I touched a raw nerve.

You know, sometimes these things, you can’t really force it. If you grow up with little, and you have the chance to be happy, you should just go for it.

It made me think a lot about the lengths we would go to chase something.

Especially for both me and my friend, who grew up knowing that scarcity was around the corner. In our elite school, in our class of 30, we were the only two kids whose parents didn’t have a car. In Singapore, it’s not as common in other places, especially when the basic certificate of entitlement (before the car’s cost) is $100k.

What made our lives converge was the fact that our parents had good times before. So it wasn’t how we started, but where our families were when we matured.

At 6, my dad was making good money, flying to the US quarterly to set up big logistics factories. But then when I turned 12, he started going through a consistent period of retrenchments. We had to take free donations of rice to survive.

The adjustment was big. We went from living with a car, and a helper, and regular taxis around, to eating once a week at the hawker centre, and spending the rest of our meals at home.

So it wasn’t how we started, but how our families’ circumstances changed over the years. That’s why both of us share the same view.

Life is an adventure, meant to be lived.

So even when the going gets easy, you’d quickly find us finding a new business venture, a new thing to do, to learn and grow. As I’ve met more people, I realise this isn’t the case. If most people can, they would choose to do the same thing, over and over again.

Change is not what they seek. Perhaps a better question to ask then is,

how do we be more open to change?

Maybe the most important thing has been to take myself less seriously. When I first travelled back to Singapore for the summer holidays, I thought of myself as some bigshot, high-flying student. After all, I was flying places! I would talk in a stilted accent, thinking I was a representative of the best Singapore had to offer.

But I never did anything truly scary. I’d thought of a business for years, but had never done it.

So when COVID came, and I found myself with really, nothing to lose, I just went ahead, even though there was no business model - nothing.

At the end of the day, when people talk about the concerns they have about my business, I think,

okay, sure, but even if things go to shit, I will still take care of myself.

As we always have done.

So if you’ve looked back at your toughest moments, you got through those.

And the next change you try, you’ll get through that too.

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

Yours,
John
Voicesmith, liveyoungandwell.com

Crane Joo Chiat, 281 Joo Chiat Rd
Singapore Singapore 427535
SINGAPORE

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2-3-4: It's June (!), how do you get closer to your goals?

2026-06-06T22:08:44-04:00

2-3-4 Friday: 6 months have passed...

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

What was working, and why?
What was not?

This helped me to see that just sending cold emails to people asking if I could market for them, was a waste of my time. Doing SEO, was probably more worth it.

So building what I have today is because of God, but the other part is because of this persistent desire to reflect, and learn.

So life is not lived in the setting of goals, but the constant resetting of them. We often forget this in our pursuit of life. So it’s easy for me to tell you,

Hey, do this review every month. At a set time.

Despite us knowing it’s good, we don’t do it. Why? Because we think,

ah, this will take some time. I will need a quiet space.

But really, you don’t need anything special.

You just need to want change enough.

1 talk

Life is not the setting of goals, but the constant resetting of them.

1 tip

You know, sometimes these things, you can’t really force it. If you grow up with little, and you have the chance to be happy, you should just go for it.

It made me think a lot about the lengths we would go to chase something.

What made our lives converge was the fact that our parents had good times before. So it wasn’t how we started, but where our families were when we matured.

The adjustment was big. We went from living with a car, and a helper, and regular taxis around, to eating once a week at the hawker centre, and spending the rest of our meals at home.

So it wasn’t how we started, but how our families’ circumstances changed over the years. That’s why both of us share the same view.

Life is an adventure, meant to be lived.

Change is not what they seek. Perhaps a better question to ask then is,

how do we be more open to change?

But I never did anything truly scary. I’d thought of a business for years, but had never done it.

So when COVID came, and I found myself with really, nothing to lose, I just went ahead, even though there was no business model - nothing.

At the end of the day, when people talk about the concerns they have about my business, I think,

okay, sure, but even if things go to shit, I will still take care of myself.

As we always have done.

So if you’ve looked back at your toughest moments, you got through those.

And the next change you try, you’ll get through that too.

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

Yours,
John
Voicesmith, liveyoungandwell.com

Crane Joo Chiat, 281 Joo Chiat Rd
Singapore Singapore 427535
SINGAPORE

Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options

2-3-4: It's June, are you closer to your goals?

2026-06-06T22:07:42-04:00

2-3-4 Friday: 6 months have passed...

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

What was working, and why?
What was not?

This helped me to see that just sending cold emails to people asking if I could market for them, was a waste of my time. Doing SEO, was probably more worth it.

So building what I have today is because of God, but the other part is because of this persistent desire to reflect, and learn.

So life is not lived in the setting of goals, but the constant resetting of them. We often forget this in our pursuit of life. So it’s easy for me to tell you,

Hey, do this review every month. At a set time.

Despite us knowing it’s good, we don’t do it. Why? Because we think,

ah, this will take some time. I will need a quiet space.

But really, you don’t need anything special.

You just need to want change enough.

1 talk

Life is not the setting of goals, but the constant resetting of them.

1 tip

You know, sometimes these things, you can’t really force it. If you grow up with little, and you have the chance to be happy, you should just go for it.

It made me think a lot about the lengths we would go to chase something.

What made our lives converge was the fact that our parents had good times before. So it wasn’t how we started, but where our families were when we matured.

The adjustment was big. We went from living with a car, and a helper, and regular taxis around, to eating once a week at the hawker centre, and spending the rest of our meals at home.

So it wasn’t how we started, but how our families’ circumstances changed over the years. That’s why both of us share the same view.

Life is an adventure, meant to be lived.

Change is not what they seek. Perhaps a better question to ask then is,

how do we be more open to change?

But I never did anything truly scary. I’d thought of a business for years, but had never done it.

So when COVID came, and I found myself with really, nothing to lose, I just went ahead, even though there was no business model - nothing.

At the end of the day, when people talk about the concerns they have about my business, I think,

okay, sure, but even if things go to shit, I will still take care of myself.

As we always have done.

So if you’ve looked back at your toughest moments, you got through those.

And the next change you try, you’ll get through that too.

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

Yours,
John
Voicesmith, liveyoungandwell.com

Crane Joo Chiat, 281 Joo Chiat Rd
Singapore Singapore 427535
SINGAPORE

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2-3-4: Feeling limited in energy? Spend it better.

2026-05-31T06:22:16-04:00

2-3-4 Friday: What we fear losing

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

Much of success in life, is learning where to direct your energy. And if something is not working, we often make the mistake of directing more energy to it, rather than choosing to walk away.

In a job I had, I used to spend huge amounts of energy worrying, fighting, and trying to think about how to get my ideas passed. I would strategize and plan, write long memos, but ultimately, when push came to shove, I would see my idea come to nothing. In fact, I was criticized for thinking too much of these new ideas, and not thinking about the small jobs.

I was copied in long emails about how I couldn’t work in teams, and shamed publicly about my inabilities. It was painful, and I often spent time trying to defend myself, worried that I would be sacked.

Then one day, someone told me,

John, why don’t you actually direct your energy at something that generates more excitement for you?

That was a turning point. In June 2020, I ended up incorporating a company, and then channeling my energy there.

So much of life is learning how to conserve your energy, and where to direct it. But the first thing to be aware of is what is sapping your energy, and choosing to wind that down. Or choosing to conserve the amount of energy you’re spending on it.

1 talk

Our energies are limited. So recognizing what is sapping our energy, and then re-channeling our energy to what’s working, might actually work better.

1 tip

Why don’t we better channel our energy, and wind down what’s not working? Part of it is due to our immense fear of grief. We rather hold on to something, even though we know it’s not working out.

You see this all the time in painful relationships, jobs, and items that we choose to hold tightly onto.

One person who inspires me is Nick, who we wrote the memoir of. Talk to him, and you’d immediately think that he’s clinical, and heartless.

A few years ago, when one of his subsidiaries refused to take on more LCL shipping (shipping containers that were less than full), he asked another unrelated agent to take those containers. That sounds stupid. You give the business you can earn under your own subsidiary, to another party.

But when he spoke about it, it clearly hurt him. But he owned the disappointment of seeing his subsidiary’s failings, and moved on. He chose not to dwell on it.

He grieved the loss, and decided to find a solution. He did not stay stuck.

Sometimes in our lives, when we find ourselves stuck, we end up afraid to tear off the plaster. We choose to keep it on, even though it’s already falling off. The plaster is old, peeling off, and we keep trying to stick it back on.

What do we fear losing?

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

P.S.

Check the book we wrote on Nick

Read the whole book (free!)

Yours,
John
Voicesmith, liveyoungandwell.com

Crane Joo Chiat, 281 Joo Chiat Rd
Singapore Singapore 427535
SINGAPORE

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2-3-4: If we had limited energy in life, where are we choosing to spend it?

2026-05-30T07:34:57-04:00

2-3-4 Friday: What we fear losing

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

Much of success in life, is learning where to direct your energy. And if something is not working, we often make the mistake of directing more energy to it, rather than choosing to walk away.

Then one day, someone told me,

John, why don’t you actually direct your energy at something that generates more excitement for you?

That was a turning point. In June 2020, I ended up incorporating a company, and then channeling my energy there.

1 talk

Our energies are limited. So recognizing what is sapping our energy, and then re-channeling our energy to what’s working, might actually work better.

1 tip

You see this all the time in painful relationships, jobs, and items that we choose to hold tightly onto.

One person who inspires me is Nick, who we wrote the memoir of. Talk to him, and you’d immediately think that he’s clinical, and heartless.

But when he spoke about it, it clearly hurt him. But he owned the disappointment of seeing his subsidiary’s failings, and moved on. He chose not to dwell on it.

He grieved the loss, and decided to find a solution. He did not stay stuck.

What do we fear losing?

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

P.S.

Check the book we wrote on Nick

Read the whole book (free!)

Yours,
John
Voicesmith, liveyoungandwell.com

Crane Joo Chiat, 281 Joo Chiat Rd
Singapore Singapore 427535
SINGAPORE

Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options

2-3-4: What we fear most we must do

2026-05-30T07:34:16-04:00

2-3-4 Friday: What we fear losing

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

Much of success in life, is learning where to direct your energy. And if something is not working, we often make the mistake of directing more energy to it, rather than choosing to walk away.

Then one day, someone told me,

John, why don’t you actually direct your energy at something that generates more excitement for you?

That was a turning point. In June 2020, I ended up incorporating a company, and then channeling my energy there.

1 talk

Our energies are limited. So recognizing what is sapping our energy, and then re-channeling our energy to what’s working, might actually work better.

1 tip

You see this all the time in painful relationships, jobs, and items that we choose to hold tightly onto.

One person who inspires me is Nick, who we wrote the memoir of. Talk to him, and you’d immediately think that he’s clinical, and heartless.

But when he spoke about it, it clearly hurt him. But he owned the disappointment of seeing his subsidiary’s failings, and moved on. He chose not to dwell on it.

He grieved the loss, and decided to find a solution. He did not stay stuck.

What do we fear losing?

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

P.S.

Check the book we wrote on Nick

Read the whole book (free!)

Yours,
John
Voicesmith, liveyoungandwell.com

Crane Joo Chiat, 281 Joo Chiat Rd
Singapore Singapore 427535
SINGAPORE

Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options