The Ego Has Landed...Twice
I had the privilege of coming face-to-face with two Singaporean celebrities today.
Make that self-made celebrities, with sizeable egos to boot.
I saw the first during a casual trek through a bazaar held at my university. Bazaars like this occur back-to-back throughout every semester and are run by various student clubs. They serve up such similar fare that you often don't know when one's ended and the next one's started. So there I was, taking in more of the same when I walked past...XIAXUE!!
The best Asian blogger of 2005 (in lilac and white).
For those not in the know, Xiaxue (Wendy Cheng) is Singapore's most famous female blogger. Known for her irreverent, vulgar rants as well as her vain photo-documentation of her own existence, she gets a gazillion hits a day on her blog and recently bagged a Best Asian Blog award. She was peddling t-shirts in her capacity as the product ambassador for Local Brand. Believe the hype: small crowds formed around the stall as people actually chatted with Wendy, asking for autographs and photos.
The next celebrity I shared air with was Singapore's self-styled motivation guru Adam Khoo. Being a skeptic, I've always wondered how people in his profession can use speech alone to get audiences of thousands on their feet, chant self-empowerment slogans and shed tears of epiphany. All the more so when Khoo constantly markets himself with the brash, annoying credentials of "top 1% at the NUS business school, serial entrepreneur, millionare at the age of 26". I therefore jumped at the chance to witness his powers when an email was circulated among NUS students promoting a free seminar by the man.
If it's possible for others to spell "it's", it's possible for you too, Adam.
Attending the 3-hour session confirmed a suspicion I had all along: motivational speakers are convincing because everything they say is patently true. Yes, "success doesn't happen by chance". Yes, "a good certificate is only a ticket to your first job, nothing more". Yes, "if you don't plan your life, others will plan your life for you, and they won't have good plans". And yes, "while most people want / prefer / like / hope to succeed, only a few feel they MUST succeed and that makes the difference".
The trick is that these truths are arrived at in such a way that they don't seem obvious (thereby giving the speakers plenty of credit for being able to figure them out). They are also delivered with great flair and vigour: Adam spoke non-stop, using powerful gestures and occasional cutesy acting. What we should be skeptical of, therefore, is not whether or not their self-improvement strategies work--I'm sure they do--but whether or not they are worth paying $2,800 to learn.
The answer isn't a flat no. Some people genuinely need people like Khoo to help them see the light, and his full 8-day course may be the best thing that can happen to them. But many literate, intelligent and self-reflexive others, I think, would do just as well with a $28 self-help book. I myself felt rather out of place when Khoo kept alluding to difficult goals such as "getting on the Dean's List", since I've been awarded seven consecutive Dean's List placings in my time at NUS so far.
Yet, I won't deny that the session was motivating. I found myself nodding and laughing out loud at several points. I also honestly felt, for a while after it was over, that I had a blueprint to solve some other nagging issues in my life (such as the chronic procrastination in my job hunt). But it didn't last long. Khoo would say that I'm allowing my old patterns of negative representation to dominate my present actions. Maybe he's right. Maybe I'm just too proud to say that I need his help. Or maybe I really don't. Who knows?
Make that self-made celebrities, with sizeable egos to boot.
I saw the first during a casual trek through a bazaar held at my university. Bazaars like this occur back-to-back throughout every semester and are run by various student clubs. They serve up such similar fare that you often don't know when one's ended and the next one's started. So there I was, taking in more of the same when I walked past...XIAXUE!!
The best Asian blogger of 2005 (in lilac and white).
For those not in the know, Xiaxue (Wendy Cheng) is Singapore's most famous female blogger. Known for her irreverent, vulgar rants as well as her vain photo-documentation of her own existence, she gets a gazillion hits a day on her blog and recently bagged a Best Asian Blog award. She was peddling t-shirts in her capacity as the product ambassador for Local Brand. Believe the hype: small crowds formed around the stall as people actually chatted with Wendy, asking for autographs and photos.
The next celebrity I shared air with was Singapore's self-styled motivation guru Adam Khoo. Being a skeptic, I've always wondered how people in his profession can use speech alone to get audiences of thousands on their feet, chant self-empowerment slogans and shed tears of epiphany. All the more so when Khoo constantly markets himself with the brash, annoying credentials of "top 1% at the NUS business school, serial entrepreneur, millionare at the age of 26". I therefore jumped at the chance to witness his powers when an email was circulated among NUS students promoting a free seminar by the man.
If it's possible for others to spell "it's", it's possible for you too, Adam.
Attending the 3-hour session confirmed a suspicion I had all along: motivational speakers are convincing because everything they say is patently true. Yes, "success doesn't happen by chance". Yes, "a good certificate is only a ticket to your first job, nothing more". Yes, "if you don't plan your life, others will plan your life for you, and they won't have good plans". And yes, "while most people want / prefer / like / hope to succeed, only a few feel they MUST succeed and that makes the difference".
The trick is that these truths are arrived at in such a way that they don't seem obvious (thereby giving the speakers plenty of credit for being able to figure them out). They are also delivered with great flair and vigour: Adam spoke non-stop, using powerful gestures and occasional cutesy acting. What we should be skeptical of, therefore, is not whether or not their self-improvement strategies work--I'm sure they do--but whether or not they are worth paying $2,800 to learn.
The answer isn't a flat no. Some people genuinely need people like Khoo to help them see the light, and his full 8-day course may be the best thing that can happen to them. But many literate, intelligent and self-reflexive others, I think, would do just as well with a $28 self-help book. I myself felt rather out of place when Khoo kept alluding to difficult goals such as "getting on the Dean's List", since I've been awarded seven consecutive Dean's List placings in my time at NUS so far.
Yet, I won't deny that the session was motivating. I found myself nodding and laughing out loud at several points. I also honestly felt, for a while after it was over, that I had a blueprint to solve some other nagging issues in my life (such as the chronic procrastination in my job hunt). But it didn't last long. Khoo would say that I'm allowing my old patterns of negative representation to dominate my present actions. Maybe he's right. Maybe I'm just too proud to say that I need his help. Or maybe I really don't. Who knows?
posted by The Empty Signifier @ 3/09/2005 03:42:00 pm
5 comments
5 Comments:
I hate motivational speakers & self help books. I think they are a bunch of rip-offs.
No one I knows who pays to go to one of these made it big. People who do make it figure it out for themselves. It's hardwork, focus, drive and simple luck at the end of the day.
To me, these seminars are little different from evangelical preachers - its just a 'feel good' session with no real tangible (or intangible) contribution to one's life.
you may want to try this course for motivation and self understanding.
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/NTC/Programs/TIP/
got scholarship 20k available if selected.
can go usa too.
think nus also have.
but ntu better because i have been there. ^^
hey, 7 dean lists, u must be one of those poor things tt most will not pity/listen even if say you haf difficulties coping or if u say u are worried tt u wun do well...or probbie u dun at all... u get the pic. everyone probbie assumes u are brainy..probbie u tink u are.. but well... just some of my tots. u are damn impressive...as everyone else will say. haha...
I personally don't like Adam Khoo if only because my mother practically twisted my arm into going for that darned 8 day course. (she's a big fan of self-help. You know, the whole How to Make Friends and Influence People and 7 Habits rigmarole)
also because he's a frikking racist. like half of singapore.
everybody now knows how rich and famous his daddy and his whole family is....
...very stuck-up, born with silver spoon, got his dad to give him the million dollar and inherit his daddy's multi-million dollar company then go big bragging around how he is so so good while others' lives are screwed... just because he is lucky...
... oh, no! ego coming! hide!!!
Post a Comment
<< Home