The Best Thing My Father Ever Taught Me

As we wind down to the end of the year, let’s take 2 weeks to consider the influence of the earliest important people in our lives—our parents. What survival skills have our interviewees this year learned from their parents? We asked them, and found out. 

Q: What is the best thing your father ever taught you?

HT, who made and sells Spiderman web shooters:
Nothing can stop you if you set your mind to it.

Elizabeth Seah, who has been cosplaying for 24 years:
 孙子兵法 aka The Art of War.

Jeshua Soh, who dropped out of school, started a business at age 19 and started another business in Myanmar:
Do something useful and do what you love.

Kelvin Seah, who is a stay-at-home dad:
To save for a rainy day.

Sheeba Majmudar, who has been a nutritionist for 12 years:
To always question everything and not follow blindly.

Russell Pensyl, who is an interactive media artist:
To listen to my mother, and to keep my promises.

Pranoti Nagarkar, who invented the Rotimatic:
That you create your own destiny with hard work and there is no substitute for hard work. And also that you don’t look down on anybody or up to anybody. And if you’re in a situation where you’re feeling sad or pitiful about your own situation, always look to people who have worse issues than you, who don’t have a house to live in while you’re complaining about not having a room.

Dr. Y, who did poorly all through school but ended up as a dentist with his own practice:
How to play badminton when I was young.

Juliana, who made it through 4 years of topical steroid withdrawal:
It’s okay to do badly for this test, just try harder next time. He taught me to look at failures positively, and it has served me well so far.

Yen-Lu Chow, who lost his son to suicide:
My father was a humble man. Humility. His bilingual skills (in English and Chinese) as a professional translator also gave me early groundings.

Gwern Khoo, who is a Michelin Bib Gourmand certified hawker:
His work ethics and quest for excellence.

Evelyn Eng-Lim, who built her own retirement farm:
Daring to venture afar in business and telling us about successful entrepreneurs of the 50s and 60s. Never to look down on people because of their appearance.

Sy, who runs LUCK-IT and interviewed all the people featured in this article:
Through watching him, I learned that truth is never absolute. Just because one person insists something is true does not mean it is.

Rishi Israni, who married and built a million-dollar business with the inventor of the Rotimatic:
He taught me that one must pick a goal in life that cannot be fulfilled until you’re dead. You should pick a goal that you just cannot fulfil—that will take you your entire life. And don’t set a small goal, set a big goal, because in striving towards that is where you get true enjoyment, true fulfilment. Also he has a ‘take it easy policy’. Never be too serious about anything in life.

LUCK-IT reader, ST:
Keep your nose to the grindstone at all times. Someone, someday will take notice and lift you out of poverty.

LUCK-IT reader, KINDNESS:
Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success; for who so hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles. —Samuel Smiles

Next week, we’ll share what these individuals learned from their mothers. In the meantime, what’s the best thing YOUR father ever taught you? Let us know in the comment box below and we’ll add it to this list!

Photographs courtesy and copyright of those featured. Interviewer: Sy
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