Ali Ghufron Mukti: The Way You Look At Your Life, Shapes Your Life

In my rebellious years, I always perceived wealth as something superfluous.  I  hated working for money, leading me to against major paradigm of success in my family. My family, who raise us in a culture which emphasizes the importance of wealth and prosperity, did not get me. They thought I was just a little "lost".

As I grew older, I realized that people need money. I cannot simply live like I do not have bills to pay or relatives to help. Money is the currency of everyday life, including your nephew's love or your neighbors' respect. Time is money, love is money even someday hopefully people shit money. No wonder people will pay a lot just for a motivational seminar, like : "HOW TO GET RICH, LIKE FILTHY RICH".

"That's how you get rich baby, want it! Like you want honey in Valentine's day!"
The amazing "Ken Jeong" in Pain & Gain (2012) as Jonny Wu, a motivational speaker.

I am not blabbing about how to get filthy rich in 5 ways. Nope. That's non sense. For me. But let me share an inspiring conversation with Mr. Ali Ghufron Mukti last night. It's always a great rare opportunity to meet an Indonesian leader in their house, they are more welcoming and you can meet other family members.

Okay, let's move on.

Mr. Ali Ghufron Mukti is one of Indonesian visionary in health financing policy sector. He was the first youngest dean in the history faculty of medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada. His vision of providing accessible, good quality health care with affordable price for vulnerable groups in Indonesia have emerged various national health insurance programs, such as: Jamkesda (Provincial Health Insurance), Jamkesmas (National Health Insurance for The Poor and Near Poor), and now Indonesia just launched its universal health coverage model of a national health insurance, the BPJS. Aside from his political career,  Mr. Ghufron Mukti is always a professor in heart.  Like the other day, he gave a talk about looking at life in a different way. As for me, it's like "looking life, in a hundred ways better than I know".

"The way you look at your life, shapes your life," he made a hand gesture to emphasize his words. He explained how successful people often come from ordinary family background. Even some start from zero. But the thing that makes them different is they way see their life. This mentality creates distinguished impacts in the way they work, collecting properties and wealth. "That's why you see many rich, successful business people came from ordinary family. In fact, many did not attend higher education... they use their instincts and they have guts to take the risk. Unlike some people who might have number of titles, but may make 0 in real life."

Thus, after observing many communities in Indonesia, he found that culture also plays important role in shaping people's perspective towards wealth . Some see it as sin, some see it as pride. Some see it  given, some see it earned. The more someone sees wealth/ success as something given, the less he will eager to take risk. "In the context of running a business, it is very important to think like a true business person: eager to take risk and use your instinct."

That talk was a slap for me. I am a kind of person who believes every leap equals the risk. However when it comes to managing finance and seeing wealth as a purpose of life, I suck. I am 25 now, still have no idea how I will manage to have my future house. Especially if I become a lecturer, just like my long life aspiration. The worst thing is I always  distract my mind with the fear of failure and rejection.

I am always jealous at my mom who is able to manage a great business. Despite she did not go to a management school, she earns more than most managers from companies do. And she's 48.  Meanwhile, I feel like I am a big loser for not being her successor. I wonder if someday I could be like her, with my degrees and academic experience. I guess, it means I must work harder, change my paradigm toward wealth/ success and stop over thinking about EVERYTHING.

He smiled at us, a smile that brightened the room. I restrained myself for over thinking. I smiled at Mr. Ghufron.  He ended the evening with a classical joke, "Okay, now that's the end of our lecture today", and we all smiled. Filled with new upgraded optimism, we know now the secret of success and rich, is in our mind. The way we see our life, and project it to our work.

Who doesn't like peanuts, are you kiddin' me?

Can you spot me here?

5 Rahasia Tembus Beasiswa Luar Negeri

Saya baru saya mendapat kabar dari pihak Australian Awards Indonesia bahwa saya berhasil mendapatkan beasiswa yang sangat bergengsi tersebut untuk periode 2014. Rasa haru, bahagia dan syukur bercampur aduk di malam saya membuka email pengumuman tersebut. Terutama karena saya sudah berulang kali gagal dalam beberapa kesempatan beasiswa exchange di masa kuliah S1 dulu. 

Me, when i opened the email.

"It's like a dream come true," balas saya di setiap email yang mengucapkan selamat. Tentu saja kemudian banyak yang menanyakan bagaimana mendapatkan beasiswa yang kabarnya memang tiap tahunnya memberikan posisi terbanyak bagi warga Indonesia, dibanding beasiswa luar lainnya. 

"The Email"

Untuk beasiswa Australian Development Awards atau yang sekarang lebih dikenal dengan Australian Awards, sudah banyak yang membahas tipsnya. Salah satunya adalah di blog dan buku mas I Made Andi Arsana. *Sebentar, saya bingung ini gimana caranya insert link di Kompasiana yang baru*. Udah deh, saya pindah ke blogger.com aja, bingung. 

Anyway, saya juga banyak belajar dari website mas Andi, yang mana saya belajar bagaimana baiknya mempersiapkan aplikasi, persiapan wawancara hingga menghadapi para pewawancara (yang umumnya dari pihak Indonesia dan Australia). Berikut saya bagikan beberapa tips yang mungkin membantu:

1) Impressive Resume

Resume yang mencuri perhatian itu punya: 1) nilai IPK yang di atas 2,75, 2) pengalaman penelitian/ magang/ kerja/ pembicara, 3) publikasi (penelitian, jurnal, buku, media massa, media online,dsb). Yang pasti resume anda harus rapi, singkat dan padat.  Contoh resume saya:

Thanks to the kind Emma Weaver who taught me to write a proper resume

Pengalaman gagal mendapatkan beasiswa zaman kuliah dulu, membuat saya belajar bahwa resume (CV) itu tidak dibangun dalam 1 malam. Saya dulu seorang yang pemalu di kelas. Saya gak pede yang namanya ikut konferensi internasional, nulis di koran, atau ikut organisasi mahasiswa. Mungkin sejalan sama saya yang dari keluarga kelas menengah yang pikirannya kuliah supaya bisa dapat pekerjaan yang nyaman dan menghasilkan uang. Saya akhirnya lebih banyak berkecimpung di dunia profesional. Saya pontang panting kerja supaya bisa membiayai sekolah dan hidup di Jogja. Saya kerja dari jadi guru les hingga volunteer di Perpustakaan UGM. Apa saja saya lakukan supaya bisa sekolah, serta hidup layak di Jogja. 

Jadwal saya yang padat membuat saya yang awalnya tidak tertarik berorganisasi, semakin tidak ingin bergabung dengan organisasi mahasiswa manapun. Sempat beberapa kali lulus tes organisasi mahasiswa, akhirnya saya tolak karena saya malas. Akhirnya ketika akan mengisi aplikasi beasiswa saya bingung karena ternyata di resume saya tidak pernah tercantum pengalaman berorganisasi. Akhirnya demi beasiswa ADS, begitu saya lulus kuliah saya langsung secara aktif bergabung di beberapa komunitas. Syukurlah, walaupun tidak banyak, mereka melihat potensi "leadership" dalam diri saya. 

2) Practice The Language!

Ga lucu kan, udah sampe negara tujuan, bilang "tolong" aja ga tau gimana. Pengalaman soalnya pernah ketemu mahasiswa luar negeri yang datang ke Indonesia, dia bener-bener ga tau bahasa Indonesia, bahkan bilang "terima kasih". Yang paling parah, dia bahkan ga ngerti Yogyakarta itu dimananya Indonesia. *krik krik*. Ga paham gimana dia bisa nyampe ke Indonesia dan kuliah di UGM pula. Memahami bahasa dan budaya setempat itu penting. Tunjukkan bahwa kita adalah warga negara yang tahu sopan santun dan menghargai keberagaman. 

Kalau mau ke Jepang, ambillah kursus bahasa Jepang. Demikian juga kalau mau ke Jerman, Belanda, Perancis, Cina, Afrika atau Amerika Serikat. Yang mana kalau di Amerika Serikat bakal nemu yang kayak gini:

Ya terserah mba-nya sih mau ngomong apa. Tapi ya saya baru tau kalo di bahasa "Amerika" itu your itu adalah possessive pronoun. 
Mind my grammar, dah!

3) Go out and talk to people. 

Banyak jadi bagian dari organisasi tidak menjamin bahwa kamu punya  kualitas leadership yang mereka cari. Maka jangan heran kalau ada temen yang tampaknya biasa -biasa aja, ternyata bisa dapat beasiswa hingga ke sekolah top seperti Harvard, dsb. Bisa jadi karena mereka punya personality yang baik dan santun. Tidak ada orang yang tidak senang berbicara dengan orang yang punya karisma dan santun. 

Apalagi di tahap wawancara, di tahap ini kita dilihat secara kepribadian dan pengalaman. Di tahap inilah kita harus memukau pewawancara. Hingga mereka bersedia mempertimbangkan anda untuk mendapat beasiswa tersebut. Bayangkan, anda harus memukau orang asing yang jadi penentu masa depan anda. Latihan dengan banyak-banyak ketemu orang dan ngobrol dengan mereka. Tumbuhkan kepribadian yang menyenangkan. Intinya, ketika kita tertarik terhadap sesuatu, kita akan menjadi menarik.

Kuncinya: listen more, and you'll have a meaningful conversation. 

4) Be nice to your academic supervisors, lecturers and even your sloppy manager. 

It's a universal law, be nice and people will be nice to you. After all, you're gonna need them someday. 

5) Be yourself

Untuk tujuan Australia, umumnya pelamar dari Indonesia senang kampus besar kayak Australian National University (ANU), Melbourne University, Sydney, Flinders, dsb. Banyak yang asing dengan kampus bagus semisal Wolongong, Curtins atau Macquaire University, cuma karena sedikit mahasiswa Indonesia yang kesana. Alasannya, "Itu kok ga terkenal ya?" Alasan klasik yang menurut saya sebagai pemburu beasiswa, kadang kalau kita memang paham alasan kita sekolah postgraduate, universitas itu malah jadi nomer kesekian. Yang menjadi prioritas adalah cocok tidaknya jurusan yang kita ambil dengan tujuan karir kita di masa mendatang, ketersediaan supervisor yang memang kompetibel di area penelitian/ jurusan tersebut serta bagaimana prospek kelulusan anda nantinya. 

Saya sering diketawain ketika saya bilang kalau kampus tujuan saya adalah University of Tasmania di Hobart, Pulau Tasmania, Australia. Temen dan keluarga bilang, "Ngapain ke Tasmania? Mau lihat Tasmanian Devil?" Bahkan pewawancara saya yang dari Indonesia juga melihat saya sambil tersenyum kecil, berbeda dengan pewawancara dari Flinders University yang melihat saya lebih serius. 

Saya jelaskan, "Many bright and talented Indonesian students would prefer to go to major universities, such as the ANU, Melbourne, Sydney, NSW and so on. I also considered those   universities. It must be an amazing experience to go to one of those schools. I did research about the University of Tasmania. I found that it has good research facilities. It's also one of the oldest universities and they offer internship program. Which it means, I will experience working with Australian organizations. Not only I will have strong theoretical knowledge, but also real experiences in professional world." Pewawancara dari Flinders university itu langsung senyum, dia malah nambahin, "You will love Hobart. It's a lovely city." 

I guess, I just got her attention, didn't I?

Intinya, sebagai pencari beasiswa, siapkan diri sejak 3 tahun, atau kalau bisa sejak semester 1 kuliah. Kenapa? Karena pemberi beasiswa sangat mempertimbangkan track record dan kontribusi anda di bidang yang anda minati. Sejauh apa anda akan terus memberi kontribusi kepada masyarakat serta  mengembangkan kapasitas dan kemampuan anda di bidang tersebut. Mulailah rutin menulis, dimana saja, media apa saja. Kecuali tembok umum, karena kalau ketangkep repot. Milikilah kepribadian yang rendah hati, senang berbagi dan tidak mempersulit orang lain. In short, don't be an ass. You'll need others. As long as you cannot upload your the-so-intellectual brain in a high speed connection, you'd probably still need anyone else. 

Finally, I want to say, "Nothing is impossible, if you put your mind to it you could accomplish anything" - Dr. Emmett Brown, Back to The Future (1985).

*Speaking of Tasmanian Devil

Looney Tunes' Tasmanian Devil

Tasmanian Devil Baby -- still cute

The Real Tasmanian Devil.
You don't want to mess with them. They bite...and kill. This shit is real.