Do Good, Do Well, Do More, Do Together.

Me and my mentees monkeying around on HATCH demo day.

Life has been good to me. I've been busy. The good kind of busy. I've been talking a lot. (Not like you guys don't already know.)

What I have been preaching the most these days is this 1 word - Ikigai.

What is ikigai? (It is not a Japanese dish. please.)

If you can read venn diagram, this is IKIGAI.



Image: Toronto Star

Being able to reach the stage of Ikigai is not easy but yet at the same time not impossible.

There are people who obtain Ikigai by picking up multiple roles. Meaning to say that on top of their day job, they will probably have a hobby, volunteer somewhere, perform in public, or maybe have an extra part time job. I think, I believe, I hope, I guess, if I'm not wrong, I am at this stage of my life now. I mean I have a lot less time for myself or just to do silly things but I am happy.



I got involved with this group of youths from HATCH. Who are they?

From their Facebook page:

Hatch is a training and job-matching enterprise aimed at empowering the next generation of youth and companies. We believe that young people from all walks of life have immense potential and can be properly nurtured to enter high growth careers.

I was mentoring 2 of the youths and at the same time friends to many of them. I might not be a trained career mentor or life coach per se but I've a rule that I work with and it works for me.

"Build relationships 1st." 

They will share with you their problems and accept your suggestions once trust is built. That is what friends do. You don't go in and start the session by asking them what problems they have and immediately try to solve their problems for them. As a mentor, I am not a GP. I am not there to just give them medicine and the MC that they want. While the program might be over for now, the relationship stays.

Many people like to ask me why am I so kaypo. How do I find so much time and energy to do all these things that "doesn't matter" (their words, not mine.) I guess doing good is a hobby for me? Like some people likes to go and get a massage, or read a book, or watch a tv program as a form of hobby and feel good. I guess helping others make me feel good? So if you wish to, you too can say that me doing good is really more of a selfish act too since 1 of the objectives is to make myself feel good. I'm not putting anyone down (I am a huge fan of NetFlix) but 80 hours in front of tv only benefits you but 80 hours helping people can mean a lot to others.


From top left to bottom right. Some of my activities in August.

1. My friend Melissa invited me to help out at sunlove home. Actually it was really nothing much. We were there to give out some food as well as interact with some of the residence. It was like for just 2 hours. They were so happy to see us!

2. That's one of my new best friend Cassh. Being friend with him is like sleeping with the devil. You will have the best time with him drinking and clubbing but you will feel guilty when you end your night puking your way home. This picture has almost nothing to do with this article. I just put in there because I want to show you guys that I do have other activities besides working and doing good. LOL.

3. My 1st selfie with our PM LHL. Although it was a work event but it is one that I volunteered to help. (Kaypo again lor.) It is our MS50 ReUnion exhibition launch. A bit shy to ask PM Lee for a proper selfie lah.

4. This last picture is a picture of me and my co-host Pam. In this case, we were both volunteered to be the host for our National Day Observance Ceremony. Fine, we were selected to help. I am glad I said yes though. We took some hours out of work for rehearsal and all but it was so fun! #NoRagrets And if you look closely you can see quite a few ministers and MP in that picture. Always wanted to do this selfie thing with all these people behind me! Bucket List checked!

So I wrote this post halfway since August, but I did not have the time to complete it. And now we are already heading into October. LOL. #productivity

Since I'm at the topic of doing good, I would also like to give a shout out to Maybank's #inspiregoodsg campaign. Nope, this is not a sponsored post. I'm just sharing it because I thought it is a pretty interesting campaign. Like you know, they are obviously a bank and we don't usually associate doing good with banks. LOL. #truestory

So what is this about?

From their official website -

#InspireGoodSG is a social initiative powered by Maybank Singapore
to inspire a wave of good deeds across the country.

As good deeds shouldn’t go unnoticed, we want to
recognise and reward those with a small token of appreciation.
You can choose to redeem your reward or donate it to a charity.

How to join the #InspireGoodSG initiative?

Visit MSpace at Maybank, Orchard to collect your #InspireGoodSG card!

Address: MSpace at Maybank, 321 Orchard Road #01-01/02, Orchard Shopping Centre, Singapore 238866

Date: 27 September 2019 (Friday) to 18 October 2019 (Friday)

Time: 11am to 7pm, Monday to Sunday (Closed on Public Holidays)
1. Pass the #InspireGoodSG card to another person who has done good
2. The recipient scans the QR code on the card
3. Recipient redeems a S$5 reward or donates it to a charity
IT IS THAT SIMPLE! Tell your friends about it and let's scan more and donate more without actually using your own money! HAHAHA..

They also have this livefeed thing which I thought it is pretty cool!



Check out their site for more information - http://www.inspiregood.sg/