Nurture or Nature?

Thursday, January 2010 01.23 A.M

Phew! Isn't today a long day.

Woke up at 9.30 then bluff all my accounting HW, rush to school at 11 coz I had a meeting at 12.

Being an SMU student is super tiring.

Like my friend Nikhil Anthony Jonas said now in his Facebook status:

you want a fast paced life, state of the art workplace, endless travel opportunities, make or break meetings? Then SMU is the place to be.

Cheers Nik!

Well this certainly is not the picture of the university life I had in my mind a couple of months back in high school; where freedom is abundant and life is good. Well, maybe it is supposed to be good. But in other places, like in the States or somewhere further there. Certainly NOT in SMU. Although i can generalizes it as in Singapore, as I am perfectly conscious that all my mates in NTU, NUS, SIM, etc are feeling the same thing. lol.

Well, i got class at 3.30 just now. It's a 3 hour class so it ended around 6.45 P.M Singapore time.

Then i went out for dinner with my solitary Indonesian friend, Oka Sutedjo, near school.

It was a quick meal to be honest, as we rushed back to school around 8 for a specially arranged KNOW THY MAJOR Talk for students.

Basically it's a quick briefing with all the majors you can take in SMU and because there is a LOT of them in SMU, I think it is good for me to be there so there were I.

Today's session is bout Finance. The most favourite major in SMU currently.

And it is not hard to see it, as I had to sit on the floor just now as all the seats are occupied. I do wonder sometimes if it's going to be similar like this when it's time for me to apply for jobs. Seeing people who is more experienced than you, more confident than you, more skilled than you, more intelligent than you, all competing for one place in a company. It's definitely a scary thought.

So the Prof ( I didn't get to know his name as I was late for the talk) started explaining finance and all the things you need to know about that word.

And here are some things that I put down in my note,

- Finance is for those who love numbers, information and making a decision.

- Key points to excel in finance are the passion/drive to learn and work, an interesting personality: one that is not afraid to make risky decisions, one who always knows what is going on, and lastly self confidence.

- Working in finance is most likely to be demanding. You might only sleep 2-3 hours EVERYDAY. You basically spend your whole day on your chair, staring at numbers, then going home to your lovely family at 3 A.M in the morning. The level of stress is unimaginable, especially if your stock just plunged down in the stock exchange. Cool head is a necessity. Your work must be perfectly perfect, as it can determines whether your company gained a 10 million profit or a 10 million loss too. The best of luck is vital.

- If you excel in finance, you will be rewarded handsomely. So handsome that you don't need your face to be handsome anymore to attract chicks.

Of course the last point is my personal interpretation. Guys with a PhD just don't say chicks like us, do they.

I must admit after listening to those points, i became more intimidated than attracted to apply for the finance major.

First of all, the Prof is just rubbish. He's not natural and engaging in his sayings. Definitely not a public speaker (refer below later on).

True, the reward is very,very attractive. But that is after years of suffering and insomnia (3 hours sleep everyday, what the hell?). I can't imagine how miserable i will be on my way there. If i'll ever be there, that is.

Pity, that the pursuit of happiness will almost always be terribly unhappy.

To be honest, I'm more into advertising and marketing than to finance.

I always love advertising and all those creative ideas in them, it always keep me interested and i think it is super fun to do that, or maybe, just maybe, work like that.

But the problem is i don't think i am a good public speaker.

There are people out there that can speak for two hours instantly without even given a script to refer to, and I do admire them.

When you listen to them, you can feel there is some power in their words and it demands all the attention of the whole room to shut up and listen.

Great speakers can know absolutely nothing about something, but talk about it for the next 2 hours non-stop with a tone so convincing that people will suspect that they are masters at that thing.

Like last semester, I met with the Head of Search of Microsoft SE Asia, Chewy Chong when he visited my class.

He did not prepare any materials or anything but it was just pure impromptu 15 mins talk.

But boy doesn't he speak well, he inspired the whole class in that 15 mins, even though his talk was basically rubbish!

Unfortunately, i do not belong to that group. Not yet at least.

I must admit that naturally i am better at numbers than at this talking crap stuffs.

But isn't public speaking a skill too?

One that can and needs to be trained and tested to get results from?

What if i'm passionate about it?

Don't you think i should at least try to learn it rather than forget about it?

I sent Chewy an email and his reply certainly give me the answers to my questions.

People tell me that I’m a good public speaker. What people don’t see is that my leg shake every time I get up to do a prezo. Public speaking sucks and makes me nervous. Especially if I speak on things I am not passionate about or do not know much on. My first public speaking was when I was in high school for a job. It made me so nervous, I had to stop the presentation 15 mins in and walk around the parking lot to calm down then go back in.

Strength does not equal good. Strength in my mind means there is a potential to make it good. We are not talking about natural talents. In the case of public speaking… it is a skill just like being a doctor. All those doctors all sucked when they started. If they all dropped out… haha, we all be screwed. J

So it's simple then.

Is it Nurture or Nature?

That's the question.

And i'm the one who have to find it out the answer

in my next couple of years.