For those of you who know me now, you probably would not have known that I was an avid and competitive sailor in my past life. What do I mean by "avid" and "sailor"? What has all these got to do with business?
Avid sailor:I was training on the water 3 times a week (that's a minimum). Wed, Sat and Sun. When I was not out at sea, there was land training and the days of the four packs on my abs (this is very difficult to believe now since I am not hitting the gym as hard). Essentially this is how I have gotten used to the fact that weekends are no big deal since I am always doing something. As a teenager, when most of my mates were out at the movies and blowing their money on clothing, I was busy training and blowing my money on parts and ropes. Yes! I was a maniac (and still am in some ways).
Do not get me wrong. In my past life, I had a goal. I was not training blindly and "just-for-fun". The goal was to train and get into the Singapore sailing team. Did I realise this goal? Yes I did. Within a year and a half, I made it into the Singapore sailing team, the Schools sailing team and I was on a roll and kicking asses. No words can truly express the exhilaration and high I felt. Nothing was impossible after you conquer and tame the natural elements.
I represented Singapore in several international regattas in Dubai and Cape Town on the Laser Radial. My first ever regatta was in Dubai. I was not used to the big scene of sailing and did not quite enjoy the regatta as much. To top that off, I lost $400USD when I was there...someone nicked my wallet (that's another story).
The next event was the
Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Sailing Championships held in December 1998 in Cape Town, South Africa. I spent that week sailing next to seals and hoping that they would steer clear of me for fear of capsizing during the race. The experience of being able to be by yourself with only your boat in 20-30knots of wind blowing in your face (and trying to recover from a throat infection at the same time), was amazing and truly empowering. I came out feeling triumphant and fearless. Unfortunately, my performances at both international regattas were disappointing. Nonetheless, I learnt that I needed to train with more strategy and expose myself to more high seas. At the end of the day, the seas in Singapore is comparable to Canada Bay in Sydney. No chops.
Forgive me for being self indulgent and narcissistic here. I was enroute to be a part of the Asian Games and the Olympics. I received grants from the Singapore Sporting Association. I was the ranked in the top 5 amongst the boys and I was the number one girl in Singapore. The sailing fraternity was telling my dad that I would be the one to bring home a quarter of a million bucks (when you win the gold medal at the Asian Games, the generous Singapore government rewards you with $$$....not bad I say).
However, things did not turn out the way it was supposed to. Towards the end of my sailing career, I had severe tears in my ligaments on my left wrist. That impeded my movement and the ability to play the piano. To make matters worse, while I was crewing for my sister, I slipped and fell on my back. This is the biggest injury that I have ever suffered and still do suffer from it today (along with my wrist injury). These injuries made me rethink sailing in Sydney altogether. By that time, I was also severely burnt out and sailing became a chore rather than an enjoyment. Hence June 2000 officially ended my sailing career. I did try to get involve with the varsity teams. That did not quite work out as their version of training was to get pissed and only train 2 weeks prior to a major regatta. That was a major culture shock for me and it was ridiculous. How can you win if you only train 2 weeks prior to the event???? I have not sailed since then.
The lessons learnt in my past life are invaluable and words cannot express how grateful I am towards my parents for giving me the plentiful opportunities to experience what I did especially when sailing is not a sport that anyone can get into easily. Without my past, I would not have today.
The 'today' where I am able to work at my own pace and create the cashflow that I am aiming for. To date, I have implemented discipline, sacrifices, goal setting (yearly planning instrument a.k.a YPI), visualisation techniques and etc in my business. My control freak nature was developed in my past life when I was always in control of myself and my boat. I relied only on myself to decide which path I had to take in order to win the race and in turn the regatta. I had to visualise my success and cross the finish line in reality. I love that feeling, passion and the sea! In this life, I am very fortunate to be in business and not dependent on others to provide me with things I need out of my life. It is a wild feeling that I have achieved and succeeded in my small little way. I like the taste and feel of success, achievement and being on the podium-- these are the things that has made my life interesting. The sea will always be a reminder to me that nothing is impossible.
