Quest To Be Your Best

QUEST = Quietly Utilise Exquisite Skills and Talents. QUEST*: Jean Claude Van-Damme’s film, shot in Phuket and featured martial artists who worked long hours and could each wolf down one kilogramme of pasta (4,000 calories) at one dinner sitting!

This evening, our entourage sent off Barney Tee and Don Ng at Terminal 3, Changi Airport. They will be the first Malaysian and Singaporean to attempt the extreme Norseman Ironman within the stipulated hours. Two years ago, Don crashed during the dangerously fast descents, and had to, unfortunately, stop after painfully running a quarter of the tough marathon. They will attempt to earn both the white and black t-shirts. The black label, t-shirt is earned when you arrive at the 36K mark of the marathon within the cutoff time of 14.5 hours, whereby you gain permission to do the slippery, rocky climb, for the remainder of the marathon.

We also bumped into Ironman Regensberg incumbents, Chris Smith, Mano, and Conrad. The cliché ‘It’s a small world!’ was reinforced when I realised that Chris’s brother was my old friend in journalism, Colin. Once in print and broadcast media, he now manages his own media company. We promised to catch up shortly on the social media platform before meeting face-to-face. I used to write full-time and freelance for leisure magazines, trade journals and the newspapers in the early 1990’s – writing continues to be one of my passions in my life. Colin and I stretched ourselves to pursue our other interests later in our lives, so as to realize our potentials.

Endurance races can be an indulgence, yet it is a test of one’s leadership qualities and character. Can you withstand the discomfort and pain? As Macca alluded in his book: Can you embrace the suck? Can you continue when the going gets really bad?

The physical test of triathlon over any distance is a disquieting and demanding task. It is so easy to allow self-doubt, anxiety, apprehension and other distractions to shift your focus away. However, with occasional racing and the annual Big Dance of your choice, you can test your mettle, true grit, gumption, and other qualities of your character. My friend, James Middleditch who won in 40-44 years age group at the OSIM Singapore International Triathlon Sunday has completed Kona, and will be competing in the first Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas in September.

Congratulations to the perennially fit, human dynamo Victor Chan for winning in his age group!

Be the best YOU, you can be!

* Inside scoop: By the way, JCVD was very particular about how his Thai glass noodles was prepared, that he rejected many versions in the resort he stayed. The resort manager had to request his wife to cook for the film star, eventually - that was resourceful!

Quest to Be Best

I remember that ‘Quest to be Best’ was one of my previous company’s core values. I have given this approach/philosophy deep thought over the years. The Quest was a film starring the Muscles from Brussels, Jean-Claude van Demme. An anecdote shared by a hotel executive (I know) who served him years ago during the filming in Thailand, was that JC was fussy about the way his glass noodles was prepared. The supporting martial artists on the set of the film, ate up to one kilogramme of pasta per meal as they were continual rehearsing and training between take.

My friend, Knowledge Management expert Keith De Larue tweeted today ‘A glass of muddy water eventually becomes clear’. Given time, clarity will replace confusion. It is so easy to allow people around us to cloud our judgement, blur our vision and intrude our thoughts. Keeping our personal vision in sharp focus and contrast is a challenging job, yet we need to be mindful and alert most times. So when somebody urges to ‘settle down’, they are reminding us to give it time for us to find our centre, our focus. Sometimes, we have to settle our differences through productive conversations and appreciative inquiry.

Our congratulation goes to Lim Leong for being awarded Community Leader for Southeast CDC by the Mayor last week! He earns the privilege to propose projects for the district. Lim has been leading the innovation in branding movement for a few years – he walks his talk. Read his insightful proposals on his blog.

My friend, Martin Parnell keeps running, five times a week, until he reaches his target of 250 marathons in one year. Yes, he runs a marathon a day on weekdays; he rests only on weekends. He does this purposefully for raising funds for charity. Go on – help him.

Today is Remembrance Day for events leading up from 11 September. Do you recall what you were doing on that eventful and sad day? Perhaps it is opportune to give thanks and appreciation for those around us. Tell somebody close that you love him/her. Recognise them for their performance and efforts.

Tomorrow, at 5.15am I run a 21K with thousands of runners. It is a marquee event that is not to be missed! Two days of rest from the flu I picked up, is frustrating but I believe that the sleep and self-massage and stretching has done me good. Like my client used to say ‘It is what it is!’ I’ll just go forth and run. The results are only part of the outcome. I’m sure I will enjoy the new route and swell company after the sweaty, tough event.