1. Half way through 回想半截人生：译天 资, 天命, 胜者心态与 感恩 Anthony K. H. Tung, 邓锦浩 National U. of Singapore atung@comp.nus.edu.sg

2. Early years Mostly a blur now, but three things stand out: – I always start behind others – I always want to win – I always manage to improve and go to the front Examples: I was not the first choice for all this because I am always the slowest in class. But I work the hardest on whatever task that is given eventually when others fail, I took over and succeed. What drove me? Parent and grandmother who came into the room to cane me when I forgot some of the dance steps!

3. The trend continued… Primary school ranking – 1978: 14/40 – 1979: 10/41 – 1980: 8/40 – 1981: 5/39 – 1982: 1/37 – 1983: 1/37 Secondary school ranking – 1984: 9/40 – 1985: 10/40 – 1986: 6/42 – 1987: 2/42 The year I got caned because my marks was lower than previous year!

4. By the time I was 16, I learn that… I am probably average ( 天 资有限 ) but that can be overcome with a winning mentality ( 胜者心态 ) Winning Mentality( 胜者 心态 ) – The desire to overcome challenges and meet targets that one set for oneself regardless of one’s limitation

5. Choices One have no choice on whether one is born rich or poor, handsome or ugly etc. There are too many “no choices” in life But one can choose to be nice, to be hardworking and to have a winning mentality Life is beautiful because of these choices among the “no choices”

6. BSc, MSc, Phd… Subsequently, it was always the winning mentality that get me through.. 1992-1996: BSc. (2 nd Upper) 1997-1998: MSc. 1998-2001: Phd. – Completed by sleeping 5 hours on the floor of the lab. everyday

7. Career after Phd. Measured in term of number of SIGMOD/VLDB papers Again starting with nothing…

8. So what really is you life about? 子曰：吾十有五而志于学，三十而立，四十而 不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳顺，七十而从 心所欲不踰矩 Mission from heaven( 天命 ) – Use to sound superstitious to me – But it is really a question of what you can do to maximize the impact of you talents and the opportunities that are given to you – one never know exactly what exactly it is. you should just do your best with a winning mentality to find out – How about starting with “ 立志 ” ？

9. Who should join us? " I have a lot of respect for people, not because of their talent but for what they do with their talent and how they get the maximum from their talent. What do you do to get talent? You have the right genes, or the right parents. But what you do with that talent is down to you. I have met many people who had lots of talent, but they never did anything." --- Arsene Wenger on "talent", Sep 2007 Not necessary the smartest, but need to be sincere and want to do something with their talents.

10. Advises Easy come, easy go – pick an easy topic to go into means others can easily go into it as well How can you distinguish yourself from others when you graduate? Focus – sincerity ( 诚 ) - 》 peace ( 静 ) - 》 emptiness ( 空 ) – 子曰：吾十有五而 志于学 ，三十而立，四十而 不惑 ，五十而知天 命，六十而 耳顺 ，七十而从心所欲不踰矩

11. Stages in Mastering Anything 诚 -> 静 -> 空 诚 (Sincerity) – Sincerity bring out the best in a person so much so that he can bring out the best in the universe – 《中庸》 第二十二章 : 唯天下至诚，为能尽其 性；能尽其性，则能尽人之性；能尽人之性，则能 尽物之性；能尽物之性，则可以赞大地之化育 静 (Peace) – The highest form of sincerity bring peace – 故至诚无息。不息则久，久则征，征则悠远，悠远 则博厚，博厚则高明。博厚，所以载物也；高明， 所以覆物也； – 无 ” 自心 ”, Losing yourself

12. Emptiness( 空 ) 空： Throw away after learning 空： A free mind ， see things from many angles and many things can connect. 空 = 通 佛家 (Buddhism) ： 本来无一物，何处惹尘埃 道家 (Taoism) ： To be like water 水 儒家 (Confucianism) ： To be able to act freely without doing wrong 从心所欲不踰矩 基督教 (Christianity): Everything is given to God anyway.

13. Examples FootballLearning a Song SincerityFall in love with football Fall in love with a song PeaceKeep watching and keep practicing Keep listening and keep singing EmptinessForget all about the techniques, do things as they come. Feel your teammates without looking Sing the song with your own style

14. ​ Attachment( 执着 ) Attached to paying the least to get the most Attached to how to make the boss happy Attached to which direction is the hottest and which big name is doing what Attachment is the biggest opponent of creativity Sincerity is not there with the wrong motivation

15. Mathematics (Statistics etc.) Poetry Physics Biology Computer Science Morality Freeing the Mind Real World Languages are descriptive interfaces (always contain information loss)

16. Personal Cultivation and Scientific Research Both are a search for Truth( 真理 ) Students are encourage to seek the Truth about themselves with the same passion as seeking for scientific Truth. ( 会要求心境提升的人，会以同样的态 度提高科学修养 ) Scientific research can be inspired by personal cultivation – 太级生两仪，两仪生四象，四象生八卦，八卦演万 物 (I-Ching) – 万物分而不分， there are always similarity and dissimilarity At 25, when you look back, are you a better person? Will you be a better person when you look back at 35, 45, 55, 65?

17. Sub-Mission of the Group Honesty Open Mindedness Belief in the Truth Scientific Research Maturity Society Character building through scientific research

18. Gratitude( 感恩 ) To be born in a healthy family with loving parents To be born in Singapore To have many good classmates, friends and colleagues along the way 懂得感恩就懂得惜福就更懂得努力