What Should I Do While Waiting for SPM Result? (#2 - Read Books)

There are a lot of things you can do while waiting for SPM Result. The first thing we suggest is to be inspired, and find a mentor or a role-model. To be an inspiring person, you have to be inspired first. One of the way is to read book, and find the book that align with the things you love. Read books on leadership, business, strategies, self-help, psychology, hobbies, fictions and non-fictions. All books help. The author of "Rich Malaysia, Poor Malaysian" wrote in the book:

"The National Literary Surveys carried out in 1996 and 2005 by the National Library both concluded that Malaysians on average read only 2 books per year , as opposed to the Japanese and French who each read 10 books a year. Leading the pack were the Americans and the Canadians who each read an average of 17 books a year."

"Empirical studies have proven that the quality of life correlates with the number of book reads. The top percentile is represented with people who read an average of one book a weak or 50 books a year. The bottom percentile is however represented by people who read less;some still read but only tabloid magazines or purely the news."

One of our team member books (school books actually)

As a Malaysian, we need to be a learning community by reading more books that we have every read before. We have to read 10 times the number of books we read before, and now is exactly the right time to start - as you don't have much to do than when you are in school.

If you never read a book before, I would highly recommend you to start reading one book a month. As we are in the month of March right now, let's target 10 books this year. This is an example of my plan, so please make one for yourself (and share you favorite books here that everyone can benefits):

Month 1 (March): Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds 
Month 2 (April): The Book of Assistance
Month 3 (May): Thinking, Fast and Slow
Month 4 (June): Everyone a Leader: A Guide to Leading High-Performance Organizations for Engineers and Scientists
Month 5 (July): Al-Ghazali on Patience and Thankfulness
Month 6 (August): Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Questions and Solutions
Month 7 (September): Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment
Month 8 (Octobers): The Quest for Meaning: Developing a Philosophy of Pluralism
Month 9 (November): Diet for a New America: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth
Month 10 (December): Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

Let's start reading! I would highly recommend goodreads as a a social website for reading books.

What Should I Do While Waiting for SPM Result? (#1 - Find a Mentor)

There are a lot of things that will happen in the future especially graduation. It's not as simple as getting a scholarship, graduating university and get a job. Success is not measured the same you are now, than somehow in the future. 

Your success will be determined by how much you love what you are doing couple years from now. The best thing I will recommend right now is to get inspiration, find a mentor, and start doing what you love. 

Prof Doug Reeve from University of Toronto - Leadership Class

1. Finding a role model and a mentor

Google someone that is expert in the area that you love, and learn more about him. For example, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Larry Page in technology, Jony Ive in design, Dato Seri Anwar, Daro Seri Najib, Rafizi, Khairy in politics, Anas Alam Faizli in business, Prof Dr Muhaya, Dato Dr Fadzilah Kamsah in Motivation. There are a lot, these are just some suggestions. The best mentor is the one that you can live with them, see them, and attend their talk. If you can find one, that will be great.

2. Inspiration through transformational changes

Research and google on the transformational changes these mentor has done. Transformational change are the highest level of change that you could not imagine it can happen before. In order to make this happen, it requires great skills, characters and learning, and finding a mentor is just the beginning. Now think about a transformational change. It can be you want to change the country to be a better place to live, you want to be a businessman that contribute to the society, or change the way people think so that we can achieve unity.  What are the incremental and continuous changes you can make in order to achieve the transformational changes. This is what you have to start from now! It's always best to step away from your comfort zone.

3. Journey on doing what you love

You already inspired with a role model, and perhaps have a mentor and also have in mind a transformational change you can make in the future. Now, we can discuss about the incremental and continuous changes you can make. What are the steps? Start reading books on the journey you choose, make a plan as if the transformational change is going to happen, and measure your success every week. Good luck!