Specific target

I still remember on my last semester, my professor preached us on the value of life.. Do make sense.. Followings are the classroom conversation between the students and him.....

Prof: What is your target in life?

Student: Rich..

Prof: Rich? Ok..

Student : Have family..

Prof: Family? Good.. Anything else?

Student: Becoming a good engineer..

Prof: Ok.. Someone like me? (guffaws)

(Silence............)

Prof: I think that's all.. You have listed a few targets like being rich, start your own family and good career. But I don't see that as target... You target is too blur.. Or I must say... too vast...

Idiot student: Four wives!!!!!

(Laughters.....)

Prof: Yes that is what I want to hear... You must specified what is your target.. When you say that you want to have family..... How many wives or children you tend to have is considered achieving your target of having a good family? 4, 5 ,6 ???

Au Yong: Hmm... Make sense... One wife... 3 children....

Prof: When you say rich... How you define rich? RM 1 million? RM 2 million? RM 1 thousand million? If you say RM 5,000 is rich then by the time maybe you are 30 years old you consider yourself rich when you reach that mark? Certainly, because you are the one who set the target.


Au Yong: Infinity!!!

Prof: Good engineer.. What is good engineer? An engineer that know until which level is considered good engineer?

Au Yong: As long as not like the other lecturers is enough..


Prof: So the moral of the story is you must set a specific target. Not something that is vague or broad in meaning. Or else you won't know whether you have already achieved what you want.