Work...?

I had the pleasure of attending Dr. Chan Kah Yein's dhamma talk at SJBA this morning. I almost didn't attend to make way for revision, but I was intrigued by the topic today. I don't remember the exact title, but it's about working hard in the Buddhist perspective.

The main misconception, as Dr. Chan stated outright, is justifying laziness as taking the Middle Path. The Middle Path is practiced by Buddhist but it's not an excuse to not work hard. I won't go into details, but here are some interesting notes that I managed to capture during her talk:

1. Work hard. Work damn hard.

2. Do something you like and you'll be good at what you do. Also, you need not be good in everything, an all-rounder, contrary to popular belief. Specialise!

3. People need to struggle. Humans learn more from struggling than breezing through.

4. Don't nag. Set your terms and conditions and penalties, then carry through. Most people tend to threaten, but not carry through.

5. Examine out intentions. Do we do something out of compassion or just to be right?

6. Multi-tasking is rubbish. It is merely an act of fleeting from one task to another. (Even computers can't multi-task. They fleet from task to task in microseconds)

7. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. And here's quote #5:

Mark Twain: I can lie, but I won't.

I had the honour of speaking with her after her talk and all I can say is that she has inspired me to work harder and find my passion. I hope you will too, after reading. Cheers!