Halfwaythrough回想半截人生译天资,天命,胜者心态与感恩.ppt

* * * * * * Half way through回想半截人生：译天资, 天命, 胜者心态与感恩 Anthony K. H. Tung, 邓锦浩 National U. of Singapore atung@comp.nus.edu.sg Early years Mostly a blur now, but three things stand out: I always start behind others I always want to win I always manage to improve and go to the front Examples: I was not the first choice for all this because I am always the slowest in class. But I work the hardest on whatever task that is given eventually when others fail, I took over and succeed. What drove me? Parent and grandmother who came into the room to cane me when I forgot some of the dance steps! The trend continued… Primary school ranking 1978: 14/40 1979: 10/41 1980: 8/40 1981: 5/39 1982: 1/37 1983: 1/37 Secondary school ranking 1984: 9/40 1985: 10/40 1986: 6/42 1987: 2/42 The year I got caned because my marks was lower than previous year! By the time I was 16, I learn that… I am probably average (天资有限) but that can be overcome with a winning mentality (胜者心态) Winning Mentality(胜者心态) The desire to overcome challenges and meet targets that one set for oneself regardless of one’s limitation Choices One have no choice on whether one is born rich or poor, handsome or ugly etc. There are too many “no choices” in life But one can choose to be nice, to be hardworking and to have a winning mentality Life is beautiful because of these choices among the “no choices” BSc, MSc, Phd… Subsequently, it was always the winning mentality that get me through.. 1992-1996: BSc. (2nd Upper) 1997-1998: MSc. 1998-2001: Phd. Completed by sleeping 5 hours on the floor of the lab. everyday Career after Phd. Measured in term of number of SIGMOD/VLDB papers Again starting with nothing… So what really is you life about? 子曰：吾十有五而志于学，三十而立，四十而不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳顺，七十而从心所欲不踰矩 Mission from heaven(天命) Use to sound superstitious to me But it is really a question of what you can do to maximize the impact of you talents and the opportunities that are given to you one never know exactly what exactly it is. you s