In The Limelight: Wesley Chan

When I finished my SPM, I knew at that point chemical engineering is what I wanted to do and I worked my way hard to achieve it. But along the way, I started to discover a whole new passion. I realized that one of my best strength is that I am able to connect to people fast and that makes it easier for them to open up their issues to me

With that I realize I was able to do something about their situation and help guide them through making better choices. I was able to change people’s life. That ecstasy feeling I got every time people come and thank me for guiding them was something I never felt before and I was loving it and wanting it more

But how can an engineer keep doing this. My professional career wouldn’t allow me the space to do so. I knew I couldn’t be the only engineering student feeling this way. It was at that point where I met this guy, Wesley Chan.

“Wesley, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?” With the usual smile of his, he said “I am Wesley Chan, a trainer, speaker and author from my own company called Vision Alliance. I help youth to discover their passion and vision and in the past 3 years I have reached out to 30,000 people in more than 40 schools and universities. The reason that drives me to do this is because I imagine seeing a world where people are driven. I see a world people where they a vision and goal and they are passionate.” 

I was just stunned hearing what he was saying, because I am similar to Wesley, an engineering student who wants to change and inspire people’s life. Yet I haven’t found the right path to make my vision come true, but this man across the table, having his tea is already living his dream. At times point I knew, I wanted to be just like and I got curious to know how he did it. 

“Wesley, how did you made all these possible, from being a UTP Gold Medal winner to a motivational speaker to an upcoming author, how did you embark on this journey. What is your secret?” 

 “I’ll bring you back to my memory into 2009, it was this called Professional Communication Skill (PCS), there were about 40 students and we were all dressed formal to do a persuasive presentation to convince the crowd about an idea, product or a service. I was about nervous because I was about to present about “The Secret” while the rest were doing topics like “Why we should have more car parks and hostels.”

I was the last speaker of the day and I was very passionate about my topic. At the end of the 7 minutes, half the crowd was silenced and at the back of the room stood this lecturer of mine who is a little short, tanned skin and built and he said this one sentence, “Wesley, if you fail to be an engineer, be a motivational speaker.” 

That was the spark to my career and not only that, I was very obsessed with what makes people successful. I started to read a lot, attended seminar and search for videos on YouTube. It was in my final year where I decided I won’t be an engineer but I wanted the Chancellor Award, because I knew that with that Chancellor Award I could get more speaking engagement.”

Many of us had dreams and passion but we often don’t pursue it because we are already doing something else. For example in student’s case, they have enrolled in a course not of their passion and they can’t tell it at home they want to do something else. I realized Wesley too was in this position and I wanted to know how he handles that situation

“You knew you wanted to be a speaker and not an engineer, but not those around you. So how did you break that news to them and convince them that this is the right thing for you”. 

“It was 2013, it was in my house, in my living room and across the room was an older version of me, my dad and he told me to sit down. I knew what was it about and he asked what happened to my job while I told him I had rejected all the offers. He couldn’t believe that I didn’t want to be an engineer despite being the best student in UTP and one of the best students in Malaysia and I told yeah, I want to be a speaker. He stood up, slammed the table and told me he don’t want to see me anymore in his life. 

At that point, there was an angel and demon in me and the demon will say “Just give up lah, become an engineer” but I remember just like yesterday the angel whispering into me saying “Stay faithful to your dreams.” I listened to my angel and continued and after a year my dad called and he said “Son I am sorry I pushed you too hard. I will always be proud of you in what you do.” 

What I want to share here is that I believe when you do the best, god will handle the rest. Listen to your own angel and do it. Results won’t come in a day but you must initiate the results. Nobody is going to believe you at first but just start doing it."

Wesley is this guy who always has a smile on his face and is always energetic. The expression he gives when he talks always shows that is ready to go on and chance the world. “You look like a guy who is full of positivity. Looks like there is nothing in the world that can take away this amazing energy you have. But have there been a point in your life where you were not this positive. Was there a moment where you were a bit negative, not full of confidence? Can you share with us how you made that transformation from being negative to positive?”

“When I was young child winning a few national championships in Taekwondo, I was told that I was arrogant and trust me you don’t want to be called arrogant when you are a kid. I isolated myself, became very lonely and put a fake smile. 

I was about 13 and at the peak of my Taekwondo career. I did not have much friends and even my coach told me I was arrogant. People use to talk to me behind my back and I felt lonely. What kept me going and positive was sports, because I was happy and being original when I played sports. 

That was my passion and when you do your passion, you become original and that’s the real you and that how I make that transformation. I love what I do and there was no room for negativity. You will find joy following your passion and you will find that positive energy. 

So when you are negative, find things you like to do, find joy. When you like sports and play sports, you put all troubles behind and become so hype up and that is because you love what you do. All you have to do is find something you love to do and just do it"

In most of Wesley’s training's and talk, you will see him speak a lot about Chemical X and that got me curious to know what is Chemical X. “Wesley, what is Chemical X, where can we get it?” 

“The story of Chemical X started when I was 7, me and my mum use to watch television together and on Sunday morning, my favorite cartoon will be played and it is Powerpuff Girls. It is still my favorite cartoon today. At the start of the show there will be this song which mentions the professor accidentally pours in CHEMICAL X. I knew that it is because of chemical x, they became superheroes. 

I went to school and universities asking teachers and lectures what is chemical x, but they couldn’t tell me. It was until after I graduated when I went to a home in Kapar, Klang. There was this lady who is a dialysis patients and she has to go for her treatment through her stomach with a tube the size of a pen, 3 times a day and 20 minutes each and you become very tired after each session. 

Can you still imagine helping other people despite being in that position? Here is this lady named Ms.Yoges and she was helping others by setting up a home for some girls and to these girls, Ms.Yoges is a superhero. In my mind I knew she had chemical x. I asked her and she told me “I don’t know, I just love what I do”.

After that I have had many opportunities to meet successful people like Amber Chia and many more and when I asked them what made you become who you are today and they told me I just love what I do. I wanted to find a way to map that “I just love what I do” as chemical x. In other words chemical x is your passion and when you find your chemical x, you will become a superhero and I believe we all have that chemical x.”

 

Clearly Wesley knows what his Chemical X is and that is why he has been so successful in what he does and by doing so he is changing people’s life. “If you could offer one advice to the younger generation what will that is?”  

“Find for what you love to do, that makes you alive and go ahead. It is learning about how to dream. Have a vision but not a rigid vision. Learn how to dream instead of having a rigid dream. Don’t close other opportunities around you. Find something you are passionate about which drives you. It maybe weird to your friend but not to you ”

Meeting Wesley Chan was definitely a life changing moment for me. He helped me understand what my Chemical X is and I am starting to see already how my life is changing in the right direction. With this I would end this story on Wesley Chan by sharing a quote by Wesley himself

“Live life to express not to impress”

Vijay: A Good or Horrible Actor?

When the name Vijay is said, you will hear a grand roar of cheers and applause across India. He is seen like a demigod by the people across India. In fact he has the second largest fan base in the Kollywood industry, just only behind the God himself Rajinikanth. Yes Vijay does have a bigger fan base than the legendary Kamal Hassan.

But if you were to take a moment to step outside of India, this is what you would see

He has became the biggest face of troll face and joke among people. People outside India just seem to hate him. So how can actor, who is worshiped at one place, becomes the face of dislike for many in another place.

Well there is only one person responsible for that and it is Vijay himself. Up to Ghilli in 2004, Vijay has been looking very promising. He looks like a young upcoming hero who is ready to move up the next stage. At times an actor has two choices in their career path, which is to do character based films or commercial entertainer.

Vijay played his cards to his strengths and went on doing commercial entertainers. At first it looked for him with films from Ghilli to Sivakasi but it when you do similar kind of movies over and over again, the audience loses patience. Because the taste of India audience is very much different to foreign audience. 

From here on his career took a downwards spiral. From 2004 to 2010, Vijay did  12 movies and only handful was watchable while the rest were disastrous. A career low Sura just summed up how is career was moving at that time. The movie was so bad, I would actually suggested to our government to screen the movie to criminals as a punishment. That's 2 hours of mental torture.

But from here you could see a change in direction from Vijay. He clearly learned to pick his script better and more importantly, working with successful establish directors. The comeback started with Kavaalan. A malayalam remake movie which he shed out all his commercial elements and did a character role. It was like seeing the yesteryear of Vijay once again. That movie showed that, there is still a quality actor in him which needed the write guidance

From Kavaalan onwards I would say all his films has been  excellent. He kept doing commercial entertainers but the difference was it was based on a more stronger gripper script with proper directors.

7 movies since Sura and they have been good watch. Perhaps the only not excellent film was Jilla, but you want to enjoy the screen presence of Vijay-Mohanlal than it is a treat.

Again it was not over the top, having to dig deep in kinda performance movie. No that is not what Vijay does. Simple commercial entertainers. That is what he is good at and he now has found the magic ingredient to make it work. Thuppaki will be for me his best ever movie and with that the comeback was complete

Yet I've noticed that despite in a change of direction, people out of India still can't accept that he has been good. It's the same people who said that Singam 2 was superb and Kathi was poor. I'm not saying Kathi is a masterpiece, but if Vijay were to have acted in Singam/ Singam 2, you would see the among of hatred. (P/S: Singam is terrible). I guess the problem is not Vijay or the type of movies he does, it's the people. They have placed a mental block in front of them which says "No matter movie Vijay does, it is useless".

 With that kind of thought in mind, there is nothing more Vijay can do to win over these fans. In fact this is what you call hatters. People who will hate you no matter what you would do. With the Puli trailer out, I've seen how the hatters are going on and on about it, but it doesn't concern me a bit. To me the film looks like a promising commercial entertainer which will be work on Vijay strength. If the film has a strong villain, than the movie will do well.

Things are looking good for him with Puli and an upcoming movie with Atlee and I wish him all the very best. I would love to see him continue this successful streak from 2011. I can't think of any other actor how has enjoyed so much success continuously for 4 years, so once again congrats to Vijay for making that change in his career.

Looking forward to Puli!!!

A dedication to the person who made me a blogger

This post today marks my 50th blog post. Over time I have done many different types of post. Ranging from personal stories (A letter to a 16 year old me) to short story attempt (The Prequel: When James Meets Amanda) up to social issues (Counseling), I've kept testing myself to see which type of writing suits me best.

At one point, I never knew that I could actually write a blog. I've loved writing for a long time. I used to use Facebook to convey my thoughts and opinions but I never felt satisfied about it. Than came along this guy who changed it all for me

The Guy Who Inspired Me To Blog

This is Kugarubaan. He was my roommate and one of my best friend. More importantly he was the guy who inspired me to write my first ever blog post. He gave me the confidence that even I could be a blogger.

I remember that night, we were talking about writings and how much I admire his blog posts. I told him I would love to write like that too but I don't think I have the ability to write things that long nor have the idea to do it. All he did was simple. He helped me created my blog page and told me to write a post that day. It can be anything but just write, just express your thoughts. There is no write or wrong to it

I've always kept that close to heart and up to today, I don't know if I am a good blogger or writer. I don't know if people enjoy what I write or not, but it is never important because I've learn to blog to express and not to impress. A big thank you to Bear Boy for teaching me that and giving me that confidence.

I would like to dedicate this 50th post to you brother for giving me the self confidence to be a blogger. Thank you for changing a part of my life!

TEDx UTP: An Annual Event Maybe

August 15th 2015, will always be one of the greatest day of my life. I have never found myself in such a positive atmosphere before this. Imagine this scenario, you are in this hall filled with over 150 people, and you have over 10 amazing inspiring people walking up the stage and giving the speech of life inspiring you. Positive thoughts and energy resonating around the room. Everyone was so pumped up, motivated and ready to go! Well that was what exactly going on at TEDx UTP.

As I left the hall that day, there was only one thing running through my mind. I want to come back next year to UTP for another TEDx event and give a talk in front of a thunderous audience cheering on at the Chancellor Hall. This is my vision, this is my dream. As I spoke to many other people who attended TEDx UTP that day, I realised this is was just now my dream, but it was many people's dream as well. And here is 5 reasons why I feel that TEDx UTP should be back next year bigger than ever and UTP should make it the top of their priority list

1. It's Life Changing

"Sukesh, all those talks were life changing and inspiring." This was one of the many feedback I got

from the audience at TEdx UTP. Such was the impact the event it had on those who attended. Many of them left the hall inspired wanted to make a change in their life and those around them. So many of them were poised to follow their passion and find their Chemical X and make it big. Above all many of them vowed that when TEDx UTP returns next year, they are going to be there, as a speaker not as an audience.

2. Eye Opener on Dark Topics

One of my favorite talk of the day was done by Walla, which spoke to us about Depression. She enlighten our views about depression and made us travel into a journey which showed us how depression starts to creep in and what it can do to us. She brought us close that life and made us realize why is it so important not to be judgmental and be supportive. It was such a strong and powerful talk. And this is what we need more in universities. We need to know about this kind of dark issues and how to deal with it. It's not only enough we talk about being successful but it is equally important for students to know how to deal with depression. With TEDx UTP being done again next year, we can tap into more darker topics and enlighten students to be aware of.

3. Excellant Platform For Students

Being a TEDx Speaker is perhaps the pinnacle of success every public speaker dream of and what I call as a brilliant move by the organizers this year was to allocate certain speakers slots to UTP students. It a brilliant move which is going to go on and change their career. To be a TEDx Speaker while you are studying is a huge success and it is going to inspire them more for greater success and I am thankful to them for this opportunity. Next year with this event bigger than ever, more UTP students are going to        have an opportunity to be a speaker and that again is life changing

4. Bringing a Global Event to Students

Tedx is world known global event, and if more support from UTP we can bring this global event to our students on an annual basis. Many people have "Going for a TEDx event" in their bucket list. Most importantly TEDx represent a global change and now you can bring this to our students and inspire them to make that change. We are going to create a much for better and positive minded UTP graduates when this event becomes an annual basis.

5. Event Management.

As mentioned TEDx is a global event, and with the success of TEDx UTP this year, our students has proofed that they have got what it takes to manage an event of this scale with grand success. In fact looking back at my 4 years here in UTP where I have been involved with a couple of event management and also attending numerous event, I would say that TEDx UTP was the best event conducted in terms of it's event management. They have set a whole new benchmark on how an event should be conducted in UTP. With the event being conducted again next year, a new set of students is going to have this experience and it is a huge learning curve in being a well rounded graduate

It is my dream and vision that next year, UTP will once again organize this marvelous event and I would be there again to give a more inspiring talk. UTP, you now have an amazing platform to change students lives and I hope this becomes an annual event from here on.

Why Everyone Should Go Through A Break Up

Recently The Mix FM Breakfast show discussed a topic on break ups and it was about how you deal with them. I personally I found it very interesting and felt that before we talk about how to deal with a break up, I feel first we should understand why is it important for every individual to at least face a break up at least once in their life, so here it goes

Break up is perhaps one of the terms we hate the most. Nobody gets into a relationship hoping it should end with a break up. Usually break ups are associated with negative feelings and a bad aura. But as the saying goes, "there is a silver lining in every cloud" in fact I feel there might just be more than just a silver lining

1. Escape From A Sad Future

Breaking up can be one of the best thing that has happened to you. Mainly because, that person is not the right person for you. Why would you want to spend a life time with someone who is not going to be compatible for you. Some times you realize this after 6 months, sometimes after 6 years, but never settle down for anything less, because you deserve the best

2. Learning To Pick Yourself Up After A Disappointment

Not only that, it teaches you to deal with failure. A relationship failure or a break up can be one of the biggest failure you will have in your life. Because of all the time and effort you put in it comes to a sour end. Yet again it is not the end of the road. You got to learn how to pick your self up again and become stronger and better. You learn that this does not define you and you are destined for greater things.

3. Ability To Make Tough Decision 

Breaking up is not an easy decision to make, so when you actually decide to break up, you are actually learning how to make a tough decision and sticking to it. You learn how to deal with conflicts and know how to prioritize what is important in your life. You understand what you need to evaluate before you make such a life changing decision

4. Self Confidence and Maturity

It is a sad and tough phase, but don't let yourself dwell on the negatives. If you gonna sit in a corner and cry thinking you are not good enough, that shows you have no belief in yourself. Well if you don't believe in you, how can you accept other to have faith in you. Instead use the break up to help you grow become a better individual. If you deal with your break up properly, you will learn to be more mature, independent and more importantly you will learn how to love again and how to love right.

5. Understanding Love

Finally why is it important to have at least a break up is because you learn what love is all about. The good and ugly side of it. You learn how to let someone go. By letting someone go, you are teaching yourself to let yourself free. A couple years down the road when you look back at yourself, you will know that the break up was a defining moment in your life and it set you to be who you are. 

I will write on how to deal with break up in my next post, and just because I am writing about break up doesn't mean I am planning to break up with my girlfriend lol. Learning from my past relationship is the key to why I share an amazing relationship with her today. You see sometimes, breaking up can help you set your self up to meet the right person

Open Letter To School Students

Dear School Students,

I understand this is perhaps the most confusing phase in your life. You feel you are matured enough to make your decisions, but you parents think you are still a little child. I guess that's why you are called a teenager. You are stuck in the transition phase of being an adult and being a kid.

Trust me I know that feeling, I have been there before and the internal struggle can be very exhausting. There are many other issues that would take place during this phase such as managing your relationship, finding time to study, hanging out with friends and some even to smoke and drink or not. There are all big issues which you need to make the right decisions, but here I am going to focus on one issue and that is called PASSION

Dear students, have you decided what you want to do after your SPM or STPM or any course of such level. If you have decided, ask your self why have you chosen this course. Is it because your parents told you, or is it because your friends are doing it so you wanted to fit in or is it because it is your passion. I sincerely hope it is because of your passion, because if not you would regret this decision 5-10 years from now.

We all want to be successful in life and the key to it, is to do something you are passionate about. I am a chemical engineer and I chose it because I was passionate about. I knew since the age of 16, I wanted to be a chemical engineer. Thus I am on my path to success and I can see things falling right for me. But along my way I have seen many students struggling with engineering. You see it is not because there are not "smart enough" as perceived by others, it is simply because they are not passionate enough about it

2 years into engineering they realised they actually don't like it and their passion lies elsewhere. I've meet an engineering student who would make an excellent business C.E.O as his passion lies there. I have seen engineering student who would be an excellent photographer because his passion lies there. They would become good engineers but they would be successful and happy businessman and photographer if they were to have known their passion earlier and followed it

That is why I say, knowing your passion at this stage of your life can be the most crucial thing you decide in your life. Take a moment to reflect on your self. Identify your strength and weakness. See what interest you the most. Talk to people who are successful in the field you like. Learn from them the process. Place yourself in their shoes to see if you would enjoy the process. Because students, learning is suppose to be a fun process and it will only be fun if you are doing something you are passionate about.

So students go and find out your passion and work towards it!!!

Regards,

A guy who followed his passion

An Idea To Cultivate Innovation In School

I have always believed that an individual needs to have two things in order to be successful in today's world. First being they need to attain a positive mindset. A positive mindset improves your confidence and betters your thought process. In the way of the law of attraction, a positive mind attracts positive things to themselves and thus being successful. This is something many people are being aware of already.

The second thing is an individual need to possess innovative thinking. Now this is something which most people are not aware of. When you tell someone, you need to have innovative thinking, they will usually reject your idea by claiming that they are not going to be some innovator and they don't need this.

Well humans are always afraid of what they don't know thus they reject this kind of ideas. Innovative thinking is something very important to every individual to have. Why is it important? Well I will be sharing that in my TEDx UTP talk soon, so you got to wait for it to find out. Trust me you will than understand it's importance.

I believe innovation should start from school itself. The earlier the younger mind are thought this the better they will become. I was introduced to the world of innovation at the age of 23. My idea now is to give students at the age of 13 the taste of innovation. To make them be a part of it. The earlier they start, the more time they have to develop their skills and by the time they hit their final year of degree, you will never know what they will be able to achieve

The idea here is that to start up an innovation competition in high schools. For those who are from UTP reading this, the concept is going to be abit similar to how SEDEX OIC is conducted but of course on a lighter scale. The idea is to have five different category for students. Which means all form 1 students will compete against each other, all form 2 competes against each other and so on until form 5 students.

The point of the competition here is not to actually make the create a new invention or a working innovative prototype. That could involve cost and maybe schools are not able to sponsor their students with such budget. That is something they could keep in mind for future plans. The idea here is to have students come up with conceptual innovative idea

What I want to see them do is work in a group of 5, brainstorm of things which can be innovated or maybe a new invention. Once they have the idea, I want them to spend months gathering information via any means possible for them and come up with a 5-10 page report about it and do a power point presentation. They don't have to do a demonstration.

The school teachers can evaluate them and pick winners for each category and also award the best group in terms of presentation. What happens here is that you are developing 3 things. First is innovative thinking by making them come up with idea. Second is improving their presentation skills which is going to be a handy tool throughout their life and third is report writing, which is important in both universities and working life.

This all important tools for students to sharpen before they enter univerisities and could make a huge difference to them. For a start, the all the school needs to do is get at least one group from each class. Let say you have 5 form 1 classes, that means you have 5 groups participating in category 1. You can award the best group with a medal. If you have more groups, you can award the top 3. Similar for all levels.

You can conduct this the whole year. For example from January to March, you let students form their own group of 5 and survey about possible ideas. In April they have to register their group with the topic and perhaps in September they can conduct the presentation. It gives them sufficient time to complete their work.

I really hope schools will allow me to approach them with this idea and I would love to be help them establish

this kind of competition in their school. I can do by giving talks about innovation, how to be an innovative thinker, a presentation workshop on how to conduct a proper presentation and so on. I have many idea and I would love to work with schools regarding this

School Students Innovation of A Mouse Trap