Living The Singapore Dream book is indeed an inspiring book written by Mr Tan Yong Soon. It clearly depicts how the entrepreneurs of Singapore strived hard to achieve their successes. I was first introduced this book by my school’s principal, Mr Ng. Reading their stories, I realized that there was one common trait among them: they did not yield to setbacks and their “never-dying” attitude really impacted me. When I heard news that Mr. Tan Yong Soon had agreed to visit our school for a dialogue session, I eagerly volunteered to participate in it. I thought that I could bring home with me some valuable insights of life, and indeed the session proved to be a fruitful one. Many of my friends have asked questions and the replies given by Mr. Tan had a deep influence on me and opened my mindsets to many things that I deemed was not possible in the past.
In the past, I used to think that “Work hard, play hard” was not possible. I thought that in order to perform well in academics, we must forfeit our play-time. However, a classmate of mine asked an RI pupil if it was possible. He replied yes, for he told us that it was just a matter of time management – which one do you want to spend more time on? Revision and putting in your full concentration on it is certainly very important, but playing at intervals is also vital. I began to believe that once I have worked hard enough, I should take a break so that I can rejuvenate only will I do better in my work. If I force myself to continue even though we can’t, the rate of production will decrease. However, I also feel that too much play can mean distraction. I have tried balancing the time between work and play and found that I can function better.
A pupil asked Mr Tan which is the proudest moment of his life. He thought deeply for a while, then answered that he really had no “proudest moment” in his life. In his opinion, he felt that we should celebrate every single proud moment of our lives. Being proud for something doesn’t mean just a great feat. Even little things in daily life, like a praise or a prize, is worth celebrating.
I often wonder: can I really make an impact on the society? Then Mr Tan mentioned that, in order to achieve something that we want, we must first have the courage to dream. He told us never to be afraid to dream big, for successors often start from dreaming. If we don’t even have the dream and the target set in mind, how do we aim to get it and improve ourselves? Thus, I feel that, everyone must have an interest from young and develop our dreams from there. This is a dream which belongs to nobody except myself.
Once again, I feel that this book is a rousing book and everyone who has read it would surely benefit from it. Although I am still a little young and the stories are a little bit difficult to fully grasp its meaning, I feel that I have gained a lot.
Shiang Chen Ting, North View Primary School, P6 Hope