?? A STIMY Book?! (STIMY #36)

???? STIMIES!

It’s been a hectic few weeks.?

I spent 4.5 days in Singapore and managed to cover 14 appointments, 3 meetings 1 book launch & an evening watching Hamilton! ??

The strangest part: I have?no regrets.

Which might seem surprising for an introvert like myself but I’ve realised that I might also not be quite the introvert that I thought myself to be.

And a large part of that has to do with?autonomy.?

I?chose?to have this trip.?

I?chose?to organise those meetings.?

I?chose?to have these early starts.?

The “love your work & you’ll never work a day in your life” cliche is true! Though it doesn’t mean that there’s no?work work.

There’s always going to be parts that no one enjoys (tax ??), urgent deadlines and a to-do list that never ends. But the busyness is manageable.

Enjoyable, even.

I can finally understand why so many founders say, “I could never work for someone else again!” ??

That said, I learned a ton during this Singapore trip.

Especially about the book/publishing industry.

Starting with the book launch for the founder of Banyan Tree, KP Ho (a future guest on the So This Is My Why Podcast ?!!), where he talked about:

• How he didn't want the book to written in 'SMU business school language'. Instead, it should be an easy, breezy, grab & go book that younger people could easily read
• He wasn't born with a huge passion for hospitality. Instead, what truly drives him is the determination to not waste time and?sleepwalk through life.?
• Looking back, many of his businesses had failed because?he didn't know what he was passionate about
• Banyan Tree Spa & Wellbeing started because he loved backpacking with his wife and they 'fell into it' by thinking that it 'looked fun' to create something like Banyan Tree.?
• Be careful of JVs. When you set one up, always prepare for an exit!?
• His biggest warning to young Singaporeans:?Mediocrity. Given Singapore's wealth and success, its people can be lulled into a state of complacency, hubris and entitlement.?

You can read a more in-depth summary?here .

STIMY Book

Another exciting development from this Singapore trip was having lots of chats about writing a?STIMY book!!?

The book will extract lessons learned from STIMY guests as well as the (secret) ingredients to success which, surprise surprise, has little to do with having found your why.

With almost 150 STIMY interviews, it's going to take time to get this done.

I need to first come up with a clear structure for the book, and that means going all the way back to STIMY Episode 1, and extracting the highlights / lessons learned / memorable stories that can be compiled into a coherent narrative.

So expect lots of throwbacks over the next few months as I dive back into the STIMY archives, personal reflections & sharing on how that's impacted what I do today, and also...?

How I'm going to compile some of the best questions/lessons into the STIMY Course that I've spent forever trying to get off the ground. ??? It’s crazy how one podcast can make such a difference, but here we are.

Figuring things out on the fly!

[Turns out, this is pretty common too]

??Did you know?that STIMY is on YouTube? Start listening?here . ??

Interesting Discoveries

I spend?hours?on LinkedIn & love finding interesting posts that inspire thought. Often times, the true value of such posts lie not just in the original post, but in the comments.

Here are some of my favourite discoveries:

1. I want to hire a CEO to run my company !
2. How a lost suitcase created one of the greatest writers in history - Sahil Bloom
3. Do lawyers make terrible writers ?
4. "Drive it like you hate it" ?- do you remember this Volvo ad? Justin Oberman
5. How submitting a blank page can sometimes win you an award?! ?- p/s I'm tempted to try this out on LinkedIn myself, Mark Ritson ! ??
6. Are dev shops a scam? ?- If you're raising a $500k round with $200k set aside for product development, would you accept free development (worth $200k) from a dev shop & take it as an investment? Igor Belagorudsky
7. Did you hear about this?latest feature update on LinkedIn ? It's pretty big.

P/S: Part 2 with Woon Tai Ho , the founder of Channel News Asia , is coming out tomorrow!

Where he explore how he pivoted his career from news to becoming a full time author (he helped George Yeo write his book on his career as Singapore's former Foreign Minister).

P/P/S: If you've enjoyed watching STIMY and want to support what we're doing, would you consider being a?STIMY Patreon member ?