Do not learn from this teacher! 🙅

You and I are born with two teachers.

The first one is punishing and you never

want to take a direct lesson from this teacher

because it will probably be your last lesson.

This teacher’s name is death.

The second teacher is gentle and subtle.

But if you don’t pay attention, you will likely

miss this teacher’s lesson.

This teacher’s name is life.

So for a very long time, I told myself that

I prefer to learn from life than death…

… which is why I have a daily practice.

Every night before I go to bed, I will reflect

upon my day and jot down lessons I have

learnt.

They either come from my own experiences

(usually painful ones) or from the mouths of

very wise people whom I had the good

fortune to hang out with.

Looking at my notes right now, I have a

long list of lessons I learnt from June.

But I have taken the liberty to identify

my top three which I believe will help you

have a happier and more productive Q3.

1. You are NOT responsible for how

people feel, think and behave.

Yes you can influence but ultimately people

are fully responsible for how they feel, think

and behave so stop trying to put on this

unnecessary burden on yourself.

Set positive intention.

Be a good person.

Do what is right.

But that’s it.

Don’t try to control how people are going

to react to your words or actions.

You can’t.

Because their reactions are dependent

on their beliefs, moods and upbringing.

Instead, be responsible for your own

thoughts, emotions and actions.

Do this and you will feel liberated!

2. Fear of man is a snare.

This is a bible verse. But allow me to explain

in secular terms.

Fear of man = fear of man’s opinions

When you allow yourself to be worried or

overly conscious about what people think

about you, you unwittingly trapped yourself

in emotional turmoil.

How do you know if you are vulnerable to

people’s opinions of you?

Easy.

Do compliments make you happy?

If yes, then unfortunately criticism will make

you sad.

Why?

Because compliments and criticism is but

two sides of the same coin.

Accept one side and you accept the other.

So how do you wean off people’s opinions

of you?

Answer: Create a purpose that energises

you so much that you no longer live for

man’s acceptance and approval

Your purpose could be as simple as

giving your loved ones a good life.

Your purpose could also be as ambitious

as helping a large number of people

overcome a certain problem.

There is no right or wrong purpose as long

as you create one that energises you.

3. Imposter syndrome is not exactly

a bad thing!

Let it be on record that I do suffer

occasionally from imposter syndrome.

Phew.

There are days when I feel like a fraud.

“This client is not going to pay you

that much money for a lousy speech”

“This piece of content you create sucks.

No one will find it valuable.”

“Why create this program? It is nothing

compared to what’s already in the market.”

On bad days, these thoughts can

paralyse me and kill my confidence.

But in my recent interview with Lin whom

I went to coach school with, she reminded

me that “imposter syndrome isn’t necessarily

a bad thing.

It just means that you are attempting to

live out your potentiality.

And your ‘old self’ is just trying to claw you

back.”

In other words, those negative voices you

hear in your head – they are from your

old self!

Each time, I get a negative thought that

makes me doubt myself, I will gently tell

that thought, “Hey.. relax. We will be fine.”

As Jesse J beautifully sang in her song

Masterpiece, we are simply work in progress,

masterpiece in the making!

So there you have it.

Three powerful life lessons that I have learnt

from June.

1. You are NOT responsible for how

people feel, think and behave.

2. Fear of man is a snare.

3. Imposter syndrome is not exactly

a bad thing!

Which one resonates with you the most?

Your #1 fan,

Eric Feng

P.S. It will be really cool if you share which

lesson resonated with you the most on

your favorite social media platform.

Tag me so I will know too!

P.P.S. We are taking a month off from

podcast. Reason is because we are doing

batch interviews. So when we launch again

on August, we will have a full month extra

of interviews. This way, we can become more

consistent with our posting.

I am still super active on Instagram stories

and LinkedIn so let’s connect there!