The Running Robot

t has been being a very long time since I penned a blog entry in the Running Robot. To be exact, 5 years since the last entry. Life have gone on with lots of changes since my last entry.   My little boy had grown from a little adorable baby to an energetic 6-year-old who couldn’t stop asking questions and making demands. While I am still a self-employed person, I had gone through some career changes in the years in between. I had headed a medium sized company and reached the pinnacle of my career. However, I missed my independence greatly during that time and decided to step away from that.   I had been struggling with the thought of picking up the pen again for a long time. Initially, I was worried about privacy. The running robot was after all a private blog about my life and my journeys. I am not sure if I should show too much of myself to what would otherwise be an international and anonymous audience. I wanted to write about hobbies and essays etc in other we...

The lonely and peaceful walk back to the car after a day's work Another long day, another late dinner. Another day in my days of independence and running my own show. Is it an easier life? Not really, while hours of work are short. They can end really late. In this instance. I was having dinner at 9.50pm after finishing all my classes. By the time, I finished my dinner and drove home. It was past 11pm. My boy is asleep and so was my wife when I reached home. The upside is that, I can sleep in the next morning (something that I seldom do). Instead I will wake up and after dropping my boy off at the infant care, go for a run. Yes, while the whole world is at work. I am out running, cycling or swimming. Only after that, I will head to my office to do some accounts work or lesson preparation. Money is alright and I am thankful for it but as an entrepreneur, it is not constant. Clients do come and go and money is not automatically credited into your account on...

The buffeting winds of change The Risk of Business Some may say that it is because I am currently self-employed and hence that is why I am now lobbying for the greatness of running a business and being self-employed. Let me be fair. Much have been said about the risks of running a business. You may fail, you may get cheated. The income is not stable. You are affected by the weather of the economy etc. In fact, just earlier today, I just message a friend to advise him to stay at his current job instead of setting up his own business. Well, he is valued at work and his prospects are good. And his pay is substantial. So why not. In essence, employment is never going to be as risky as being self-employed. I agree and I accept that. As an analogy, running a business is like flying. The risks are numerous and in the event of an accident, and you have fewer chances of walking away alive. However, being employed is like driving. Largely, it is safe and in the eve...

Sunrise over the Alps enroute to Munich Resonates with my soul An old friend, Asingaporeanson recommended Steve Pavlina's website to me and I came across the following paragraphs which resonate with me. " When I had a job, I didn’t care so much about optimizing my startup routine for each day. There was a disconnect between my productivity and my results. As an employee I sometimes prided myself on how little real work I got done each day. I didn’t like my boss, especially due to his bad temper and his use of fear tactics to manage people, so perhaps being unproductive was my way of punishing him for being such a jerk. Without a job, however, being unproductive makes no sense since it’s clear that I’m wasting my precious life. So I’m very motivated to stay sharp and squeeze a lot of juice out of each day. If I don’t keep my standards high, I suffer for it, and there’s no one to blame but myself. If I ever slack off, I can reboot myself whenever I want. I don...

Changi Airport Terminal 3 http://www.channelnewsasia.com/blob/3299092/1479488837000/snorlax-garden-data.jpg It is a nice, quiet Tuesday morning, I have decided to take things slow on this day and not cram too many things on the schedule.  Former Hectic Life I had being juggling a permanent job and running my teaching business for many years. Day in day out, I had been rushing through meals, rushing from one point to another. Having many deadlines to juggle on the day job. Lessons plans to be made for my classes. Family time to juggle. etc. etc. Current Reality I woke up on Tuesday morning at 8am, sent my baby boy and his mummy to his infant care centre and drove to Changi International Airport for my medical checkup. After the check up, which ended at 10.30am, I walked out of the clinic and began wandering along the airport terminal. My mind endlessly thinking about finding something to do. Note that this is not a off day for me...

I came across Isaac Lidsky while researching for a coaching session.  Isaac Lidsky, A man who lost his sight at age 25 Despite of his disability, he went on to become a successful lawyer and served as a law clerk under two justices in the Supreme Court The CEO of ODC Construction, a construction company worth USD$70 million  The writer for the book "Eyes Wide Open" Most importantly, a father of four kids who insist on changing his children's diapers even though he could not see. And he did a good job of that. Sight without Vision The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision - Helen Keller How many of us are guilty of that? Seeing an open door which leads out of our predicament but refusing it as it is unknown, foreign and fearful. Choosing instead to remain where we are and continuing with deal with the problems and constraints we are familiar with. In other words, choosing to remain stuck. In my early adulthood, I was c...

It has been exactly a month since I left my job of 12 years and began my freelancing journey as a full time tutor and entrepreneur. It is a walk of freedom and much uncertainty. Boss... towkay...odd jobber...freelancer...self employed...unemployed This are the many names that I have been given since I left my job. There is much freedom now...I have the option of deciding when I would like to start the day. Though it is subjected to the schedule of my students and other work commitments. And to be frank, I start working even earlier than before, so that I have more time in the afternoons. I truly get to smell the flowers in the middle of a work day and have meals at places in which I could only go previously when I was on leave or during the weekends. I have no boss to answer to. But I do have many clients who can boss me around. Thankfully, my current clients are very nice people. Financially, it is a different set of rules. While...