I have a favorite song by Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) that almost always inspire me whenever I hear it. It talks about walking the journey and not regretting. We are at a times when the world is looking bleak and everyday when we flipped the newspapers, it made us worried about tightening credits on car loans or some large car companies in US imploding big time. Or you walk around seeing people sighing about the bad economy or pundits quoting that our Singapore economy will contract 2% in 2009 and daylight will not be seen through the year.
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Click here to see and listen on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, wear your sunscreen and sit tight would be it. Enjoy the moment where oil price plunge to below $40 a barrel and your electricity bill to be cut by 25% next January. Your package of rice may not be as expensive as 6 months ago and that you can buy a COE for $2. This are unprecedented times and we are living in the age where many years later, generations will talk about this like in 1929. Wear your sunscreen and do not look at the glare of bad and sad news because that will only bring you down.
Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as wishing that it does not rain after you give your car a nice wash. Start to be prudent now and you may pick good bargain prices now with some equities or things of value which may make you richer when the times improves. This is like mah-jong game where the wealth at the table is being redistributed at each throw of dice. Sometime you win, sometime you lose but the money moves around. Probably to the smarter ones who know when and where to buy and wealth will go their way.
There are not many windows of opportunity to strike it. Most of us probably have never seen Citi's price hitting at $3.77 or GM trading at $2.79. These are trying time and to the braves, this is the time to charge.
Do one thing everyday that scares you
Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind…the race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself. Take this time to reflect, re-organize and map out your life. 20 years later, you may regret that you did not capitalize this moment to do sometime big.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life now…the most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 60 year olds I know still don't.
Congratulate yourself that we are born in a momentous times - with the financial melt-down that equals if not worst then 1929 and that US has its first black president Barack Obama.
Brother and sister (I learn this from Lim Swee Say) together we'll make it through and 10 years later when we look back, at least we can say that we are a part of this important tract in history.
This is the season to get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable and cheap, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Even if this nightmare of a financial meltdown is affecting us, it can only be a long nightmare. Day will break and when we open our eyes, the sun will still rise and we'll realize that it will be a beautiful day as long as we can always have a beautiful mind.
So take this new year to love your elders, siblings and friends.
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