The Anderson Secondary School’s42nd Speech and Prize Giving Day

Speech By Patrick Liew, CEO OF HSR Global Ltd

At The Anderson Secondary School’s 42^nd Speech and Prize Giving Day,

On April 13, 2012,4:30pm – 7:30pm

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 Aspirations, Now And Beyond

 I wish to thank all of you for giving me the honour to join you on your 42nd Speech and Prize Giving Day. 

More than 30 years ago, I sat where you are sitting right now. I never imagined that one day I would stand on this stage to share my life experience with the school.

I consider it a great joy and privilege to be here today.  I come here with a very important messagein my heart that I believe can make a difference to your future.

I was born in a poor family.  It was one of the best things to happen in my life.

When I was growing up, there were nine of us, including my parents, living in a small flat.

To make ends meet, my parents would rent out whatever space we could spare.  At one point in time, we even had somebody renting our living room.

We would have rented out our toilet if we did not have to use it every now and then.

My grandmother and siblings were squeezed into a small room together with me. The room was so small even the mice were hunchbacks.

If I had a dog, the dog would have to wag its tail vertically. 

On one end of the room, my elder brother had a canvass bed and a study table to himself. My grandma’s bed occupied the other end of the room.

The rest of us would sleep on the floor.  On many nights, I slept underneath my grandmother’s bed.

Hence, if you look at my face, it’s a little flat.

As a child, I don’t remember having any toys. Still, I had a lot of fun playing with whatever is around me.

Most of my clothings were hand-me-downs. When my brother gave me his school uniform, I had to wear another pair of shorts underneath it. 

He was – let’s just say, bigger in size than me.I have to be mindful when I cough that I would not do it too strongly.

My shorts may drop.

My family and I livedliterally from hand to mouth.

I am proud of the fact that I grew up in poverty.  Poverty is one of the best drivers for progress. 

Poverty helped me to become more grateful for every blessing in life.  I learned to value what truly matters in life.

I’m here today to share with you what I believe is the worst failure.

The worst povertyis to suffer the poverty of not having dreams.  When there is nothing to look forward to, you will be perpetually poor.

Everything great starts with a dream. The world around you is created and re-created by dreamers.

Dreamers see a new world before the rest of the world. They see the world not for what it is but for what it can become – and they go ahead to redesign the world.

When there is a dream, there is life. Without it, you will drift through the passage of time.

Dreams are like a compass. They help you navigate your life to success.

With a dream, you can feel that there is something great waiting for you. That feeling can give you a sense of strength, control, and direction.

When your mind is stretched by a dream, you will improve your personal development. You want to be a ‘better you’ so as to be in a better position to achieve your dream. 

When a dream is so electrifying that it consumes you, you cannot continue to live at the same level. It will help you live up to your higher potential and calling.

You will galvanise your resources to achieve the next level of achievement and growth.

You will learn how to value your life and the people around you because they, too, have dreams. Together, you will have a much better chance of fulfilling each other’s dreams.

The greatness of your dreams will determine how great your life will become.  The quality of your dreams will determine the quality of your achievements.

The best time to dream and fulfil your dream is right here, right now.

There is no better time in history to do whatever you want to do, enjoy whatever you want to enjoy, and achieve whatever you want to achieve.

I believe our Creator has designed you to dream. He wired you to achieve. He has destined you to turn your dreams into achievements.

Please don’t take your destiny lightly.

When you step out of the wonderful Anderson world to the wonderful world out there,  youwill have the opportunity to create an exciting new world.

You can create a world that has never existed before. A world that you have been longing for, one that will pave the way for a brighter future.

You have everything it takes to transform this new world in your mind into a reality.

I challenge you to dream the ‘impossible’ dreams. It will drive you to stretch yourself to make achieving the dreams possible.

When you plan to go farther than you thought you could, you will bring out the best from yourself.You will live life to the full.

Tragically, there are many dreamers but not many are doers. There is only a rare few who are achievers – they not only dream but also do whateverit takes to make their dreams come true.

The key difference between those who merely dream and those who make dreams come true is just one word – Execution.

Execution is the ability to act on your dream. Execution is improving on your action to achieve your dream.

If you have a dream and you don’t take action, you are building castles in the air. On the other hand, if you take action but you don’t have a dream, you are running around the castles.

As a dreamer, you must also be a doer.

It is not enough to aspire, you must act. It is also not enough to execute, you must excel in your execution.

Good motives must lead to motion. Movements must be improved to lead to achievements.

You must take the first step, and then another better step, and another even better step…until your dream come to pass.

The worst failure is a failure to try. When you stop trying, failure becomes permanent.

It is the capacity of your dream, the tenacity of your faith in it, and the ability to take ever-improving action that will help you to go farther and faster to achieve your dream.

My fellow Andersonians, live your dream – with constancy and purpose.

Thank you.