‘Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile.’

Time are tough and many people are struggling to stay optimistic given the state of the economy, the insecurity of their jobs (if they have one), the size of their mortgage and strain that puts on relationship at home. With the current political stability in our country, we need to focus on the betterment of ourselves instead of spreading negativity against the government. Most people are blaming the government for what is happening right now.

Just because we can find lots of reasons for feeling down and becoming a bona fide pessimist does not mean that we should. The fact is, optimism creates opportunity and pessimism kills it. Expecting good things to happen will lead to taking actions that produce positive results. Expecting only more bad stuff to come your way will keep you from doing the very things that might have minimised or avoided just that.

For 25 years of living, and finally standing on my own to feet makes me realise that nothing comes easy in life. Being the typical ‘stereotyping’ Gen-Y, expecting things to fall on our lap isn’t something new. I myself included. After close to three years of working and finally landed myself a job in the investment banking line did I realise that ‘It is time to buckle up’.

After three months of being in the industry, it is finally time for my appraisal. During my appraisal with our chief executive officer (CEO), he raised up a few points. Being Malay myself, I suppose the typical mindset is ala budak melayu ni boleh ke kerja. Put aside our differences i.e. race, gender etc. If other people can do, why can’t we?

So during the appraisal, he mentioned that if you want to succeed, you have to put in extra effort/initiative. Me like everyone else are always attending to our routine job only. Day in day out. Why not?

However, what are you planning to achieve with that? If you want to succeed, you have to be willing to take the extra mile. If you are not doing anything, don’t blame destiny for your laziness. And putting the extra mile does not mean that you work 22 hours a day. Work smart, guys.

Admit it. There will be days where work will be boring. When you feel like you have 100 things to do on your checklist. Or when you are just plain irritated. The easy things to do are to feel frustrated and to give up. Or you could stay focused on the bigger picture.

Understand your purpose and it will fuel your drive. If I told you that it was your job to sort through a box of apples and to throw out the rotten ones, would you feel a strong sense of purpose? Or would you feel like a cog in a machine?

Now, what if I told you that by sorting out the bad apples you were helping out the local fruit bank in supplying fresh fruit to needy families in the area - would that change your perspective and your sense of purpose in the work? Now that you understand the purpose of the work, does it potentially change your attitude or perhaps even your choice of work? Find your why. If you don’t know what it is, create it. That will motivate you to make a difference.

Hence, why complain that the costs of living are rising if we ourselves are not doing anything to overcome this issue. We tend to blame others for our failure. For us to succeed we need to examine ourselves whether we have work hard enough to achieve our dreams. In life, nothing is impossible. Before I finally landed myself a job, I went through more than 10 interviews. Praying and hoping that I would secure a job. And I did not.

I did not blame others of my fate nor do I blame the government. I never gave up. I was determined. And I kept on trying. Therefore, if you want something good to come, do not rely on the government solely to provide with a better life as we lay complacent at our current situation while wishing that someday, yes someday I will succeed.