Saturday, March 28, 2009
Self-reminder
It's funny sometimes when I see people dreaming of grandeur.
You know, for people like when you judge (ok maybe I shouldn't, but I did it anyway) that they are (to be PC, "at this point in time") distinctly average.
Or to put it blantly: People who all talk but no action.
I have a friend who once told me: If you want to talk of any grand plans, make sure you gain the respect of people (often but doing it first).
From young, we are told to dream. The refusal to settle for average, the hope to be a head above the rest. It's easy to talk, really.
But when it's time to walk the walk (after talking the talk), this is the time these people fail, and sometimes I wonder whether I should look at people in the positive way or the negative way.
Positive way: At least they are aiming high and working for it! They are your friends, you should support them!
Negative way: The way they talk is damn impressive, but when the time is there for them to work, they falter in the execution. They can't even convince people their actions are worth their words.
Sometimes, I struggle between the extremes of the 'nice' me, and the 'cynical' me. Towards these people, while I applaude their ambitions and grand plans (and am sincere cos they are my friends and I truly wish well for them), the other me just wanna laugh at these people. Aligning to what my friend said, once these people lose my respect when they walk the walk, it is very hard for me to take in their talks.
Going on the vein of the 'cynical' me, small little incidents (or some even minor things) recently irked me to some above-mentioned people:
1. People who keep talking and talking things on paper, but when it is time for them to do things themselves, all the theory suddenly dissipates
2. People who said they refuse to settle for the average, yet I've seen nothing from them to suggest that they are going to break their current demise (other than thinking about it)
3. People who keep harping on some ideological ideals, but unable to match them with reality. The best thing is, blame other people for creating reality.
4. People who keep asking people for views, but refute nearly every single one of them (on both sides of the argument), ending up contradicting oneself.
Actually, all this irritation of other people or incidents only serve a strong reminder to myself. I'm a strong critic of things I see, so this lesson will be valuable to me:
Before you want other people to listen to your 'idealistic' grand plans, always make sure that you have been there, done that, or are putting your own actions to achieve them. If not, you lose your credibility, and people will just be irritated by you, and think that you're nothing but someone using 'idealistic' situations to criticise them.
And because of that, I'm always very wary when I aim for grandeur. For previous things like my projects; for current things like my studies; for future things like my career prospects. I'm really worried that either on current standing I'm just not good enough, or I haven't put enough effort to acheive those lofty aims.
To be specific, to talk things like getting a First Class Honours and getting a good internship is easy, but it requires extra effort like understanding the requirements for the Thesis, finding a good professor, exploring your interests, sourcing more places, brushing up your resume, polishing your interview skills, knowing what you want etc etc.
I'm really afraid that I will fall into the category of people I hate, by keep saying that I want this and that, but when the time comes to the crunch, I'll keep procrastinating and not put in that extra effort. Or worse still, if I forget to be humble, and constantly remind myself that what I
want to be is not what I
currently am, and I still need to put in a lot of effort in order to reach the former.
Ok! Time to work hard again! Admist the academic nonsense, to sit down and plan, for internships, and for my Thesis!
Reminder: It's only by
TAKING ACTION will I achieve what I want, not moaning.
lowtide blogged @
12:11 am
