The Importance of Friends - Million Dollar Friends

Singapore Children Little Musuem Robot

You ever been stuck in do mode? It’s when you become something similar to the Terminator or Robocop and just super focused on getting tasks done on your daily to-do-list. You don’t want anyone to disturb you and if anyone tries to interrupt, you ignore them or give a quick reply so you can get back on track.

This can be both a great strength and weakness.

Being able to keep ourselves disciplined and focused is a key ingredient to success, after all there are always tasks that need to be done. However, if while completing the small and endless tasks of daily life you forget the larger picture then you have truly been reduced to a machine. Sometimes it can be easy to get lost in all the mechanical things we need to do every day, stopping us from putting our energy into the things that matter the most without even realizing it.

When it comes to our career it is more often a solo effort than it is a group effort. It’s tough working towards success by ourselves. If your serious about jump starting your career and find that when you are the youngest person in the room as a twenty-something you can feel like the least important person there. I can get demotivated, make excuses to not do what I need to and run away from personal accountability. I stop trying to become the best that I can be. 

Good friends will not accept mediocrity from one another 

Its why my close friends are important to me, they give me a reality check when I need it so I can get back on track.

They provide me with Positive peer pressure. If they believe I can succeed but I'm not walking the distance they will nudge me and hold myself accountable. I do the same for them as well.  We respect each other's fears, concerns and personal boundaries in life but also challenge them at the same time. We want to bring out the best in each other because we care and not doing so is a disservice towards each other. 

Me and two of my closest friends, Thao and Phong since 2006

The #1 IT case competition team in the world, Natasha(Left), Stevie(Middle), Larisa(Right)

How does it work?

For myself once every one or two weeks I sit down with some of my closest friends or peers that I respect and we discuss the things going on in our lives and our challenges. Honesty and active listening is expected, even if it's painful to hear. Our role is to listen to one another and challenge each other to prevent mediocrity by suggesting concrete actions. This helps to pop ourselves out of any ruts and keep pushing past our comfort zones at a steady pace. Without it at times I'm sure I would be stuck in my own mess of indecision and confusion. Even if I don't end up following their advice, just talking about it helps me clear up the direction that I really want to go.

Photo Credits: Andrea Vallejos

Social networks allows us to achieve things what we could not achieve on our own. Helping you keep on track towards your goals, even when you don't even know you've lost your way. In that way my friends are worth more than a million dollars to me because they will always continue to help me succeed.

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By Stevie Vu

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