Joseph Schooling - His unquantifiable achievements

I believe in the use of role models in society. Having someone you're able to look up to, an inspiring individual who has paved the way and shown that what he has achieved, is a possibility.

Sports would be one facet of modern society that provides for the sustainable deployment of role models. Sporting achievements has always been a mainstay in society and typically transcends most geopolitical issues. So to have a 20 year old Joseph Schooling achieve what he did over the last week or so provides inspirational goodness on a platter not only for Singaporeans, but for citizens of ASEAN.

If you were living in a cave with no access to media, 20 year old Joseph Schooling blitzed a perfect score, with 9 gold medals and 9 Southeast Asian Games records in all of his nine events, setting a standard that few would be able to surpass. And the kicker is this is part of his training regime for the FINA world championships in August 2015. Meaning the boy wonder is not at his "peak" yet, which makes me shudder.

I do feel that the best thing about Joseph Schooling's achievements over the past week is not just limited to re-writing the sporting books, but also in serving as a role model, and beacon of inspiration to the young Singaporean swimmers coming through the ranks. His achievements clearly spell out that it too, is possible to arrive at his level. You may or may not have the innate talent that Joseph has, but if you work hard and smart, be consistent and put yourself through the grinder, you may stand a fair chance at grabbing some honors. And even if you reach for the stars and fall short, you won't end up with a pile of mud either.

The lives he would touch, sparks of inspiration that reinforce the platform for other swimmers to move forward. These are some of  his unquantifiable achievements that in my humble opinion, would matter more than his tally of gold medals.

And strangely enough, each of us has that innate ability to provide inspiration for our loved ones, for our friends and immediate colleagues. Through the proliferation of the internet, this ability is immediately amplified. You can google for different "role models" through blogs, not just the old school way of learning through studying the classics. In fact, setting the standards and providing some much needed inspiration may just be the motivation to keep ourselves pushing forward.

Which is one of the main cornerstones for this, and I would say, probably many of the other personal finance blogs around. As long as I have affected one life for the better, my work would have been done. If future generations of junior investment bankers / professionals kick start their careers and are in need of some advice, I do hope this series of blog posts would help provide some guidance.

That would be my largest contribution to moulding the future of the Singaporean society. haha :)