2-3-4 Friday: Not listening?

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

1 thought

Go to Queenstown, a town in Singapore on the first Saturday of every month, and you’d notice a bunch of tables opened on a lawn, chairs perched precariously on the lawn (and slowly sliding down the mud as you sit on it), and volunteers asking passers-by to join in.

And on Saturday, they had a big community market, where there was no money exchanged. All that was exchanged were ‘blessings’ where one volunteer would bring a gift (food, drink, books, the gift of storytelling), and then others would bring something too.

People were even offering to cut each other's hair. 

You might think that something like that is highly funded, but it’s not. It’s a bunch of volunteers who wanted to make their neighbourhood more friendly. As I interviewed them, and asked them what kept them going, one volunteer said,

“Here, the only currency exchanged is that of friendship.”

No money, no government funding, nothing.

Just pure heart.

But secondly, what was more important was how humble all of them were. Amongst them, was a billionaire heiress, who was moving chairs, carrying tables, clearing the trash, and just trying her best to steward the community that she was a part of.

She is an inspiration to me.

She is the heiress of a real estate company with billions in assets, but she chose to stay in a HDB terrace, within the community. When she was putting up her home, she did it with hoardings made by ex-offenders, just so that she could put her money where her mouth was.

She was congruent, inside and out.

1 talk

Stop talking. Start doing. 

1 tip

It makes one think about how we often don’t need permission to do the things that we want to do.

Just one or two people who are aware of the problem, and can agree that doing something, is better than doing nothing. Just taking ownership of the problem, rather than sitting back and complaining about the problem.

Workers are easy to find, owners are harder. How does one take ownership of the problem? Not just by talking. But by doing. Constantly doing, over and over again. Iterating, changing, and trying again.

And even when you have billions of dollars, you still have to get stuck in.

Sure, she could have thrown her money at the problem, but it wouldn’t have lasted.

The moment her money stopped, the project would have died.

But here, because of her active efforts to keep doing what she cared about, it lasted.

And when she speaks, everyone listens. You don’t want to be the rich person that everyone hates.

Because you know just that person, in your office. The person speaks, and no one listens to him. Everyone whips out their phones, and starts texting, doing their shit, and then not caring about what the person is saying.

Why? Because everyone knows he doesn’t have skin in the game. They know that he is just talking. He doesn’t get involved, doesn’t roll up his sleeves, and simply just stands there and talks.

So the next time you wonder why people aren’t listening to you, maybe it’s time to roll up your sleeves, and get down to work. Talk less over the water cooler. Start doing.

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love