2-3-4 Friday: 19 Sep

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

1 thought

Over the past month, I’ve gone back to becoming a soldier again. Every Singaporean male has to serve 2 years of mandatory National Service, and 10 cycles of reservist training, where you refresh your skills.

Over the past 2 weeks, we went out into the field again to train.

Part of it was a field camp.

We slept out with the mosquitoes, could not bathe, and had to eat combat rations. Think of menus like soy sauce chicken rice, except it’s all lumped together in 1 rectangular pack. In between, we retrained in the use of our artillery platforms, digging holes, feeling the camouflage paint run down our eyes.

As we were sitting in the dark, squashed in a vehicle, traveling to the next point, with our helmets bobbing, one guy said,

I don’t know why I come back, but I think ten years from now, when I look back, I won’t miss the times spent in the field, but I will miss the times spent together with my men.

Out in the field, over the last few nights, they would cobble together some solid fuel, light the matches, and then place a mess tin filled with Maggi noodles. They would toss in luncheon, canned sausages, and would just talk about nothing.

Like how the sausages were, whether the noodles were spicy, whether they were springy, and I wondered,

is this why we come back to serve? To eat Maggi and cook outfield?

 

But that night, across the field, you would see Indians, Chinese, and Malays sharing a meal together, something you don’t often see.

Picture credit: The Boy Who Does Nothing

That night, I finally experienced what it meant when we slept in the truck.

There was an Indian and Malay with me, a Chinese. We had been suffering together for the past 2 nights, and it was time to turn in.

As they slept in their hammock, I slept under it. I was unsure if their 70 kilograms would drop onto me, but quite sure that whatever happened, we would still be okay. We were of different backgrounds, but we were fighting on the same side. It’s easy to take that for granted, but when we look at our neighborhoods, or even around the meal table, we would see that we are sharing those with people who are like us.

For all the pains of the army, it was an effort to bring people together.

At the end of the day, reservist was never about who you served, but who you were serving with.

1 talk

When people look at Singapore, and people want to know whether Singapore has a strong and credible defence force, they do not look at just the machines that we have.

 

Machines, money can buy.

 

But when they talk to our people, when they talk to our NSmen, when they talk to the employers of the NSmen, and talk to the families of our NSmen, only then will they truly understand the strength of our defence.

 

The strength of our defence is drawn from all walks of society.

 

Singapore Minister of Defence Chan Chun Sing, 1 Jul 2025, SAF Day Speech

1 tip

Wonder why I’m talking about the army, flies, and digging holes? What does this have to do with you?

It’s because in your jobs, you would find suffering. But in your jobs, what makes the suffering worth it is knowing that there are teammates you’re helping, who are worth your pain.

People whom you would trust, with your life.

Maybe it’s not as severe as your life, but you need to be willing to call them a friend, not an acquaintance, nor a connection.

You need to call them a friend.

At work some try to draw lines clearly, and not make work friends. They say that this would complicate matters, make it hard to be professional, and add too much attachment to work.

I was the first proponent against this - and once wrote in my first book "Teamwork is overrated," presenting a laundry list of points about why it distracted people and tended to produce less fruitful discussions. 

But things changed when I saw how I could never have built my current business without any of those in my team. 

Picture Credit: Becoming Better by John Lim and illustrated by Valerie Chua

So now, I do think it’s worth trying to make friends at work. How do you make better ones that last, and won't just drop you the moment work ends?

What I find beautiful about the army is that every year, for 2 weeks, hundreds of acquaintances come together. They may have known each other from their active unit days, but most hardly ever keep in touch with each other.

Yet they are willing to fight together, crawling through mud, just so that they can alleviate the pain of their colleagues.

Is that stupidity? What is it there that we can learn from?

I think the one important thing is that these reservist soldiers, they hold nothing back.

They don’t try to be professional, they joke about their themselves, they laugh about the ridiculous mustache they draw with the black face paint, and they let themselves go - and they go all into rekindling the relationships they will form over the 2 weeks.

Perhaps the lesson here is that in our work, it helps to try some of that.

To hold nothing back, to go all in, and to bring all of yourself, into the work you do.

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love