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The Quest Beyond AI

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Recently, the fierce “game of throne” in the AI world has shaken the peace and harmony on the human planet, putting many into sleepless nights.   A couple days ago, an IT director in a financial firm I coached sent me an unexpected message past mid night, moaning about rumors of layoffs in his department, worrying that his skills would soon lose value, and not knowing what to do... I replied to him, "On the contrary, I want to congratulate you for getting closer to thinking about the most important question in life!" The More Important Question Our mind, shaped by education and upbringing, has the habit of deducing career orientation and life goals from the abilities and skills we have. As we often hear people say, “I am good at math so I should work in finance.” This kind of thinking inertia has its limitations. On the one hand, individual differences are not being considered. Everyone has their own sets of beliefs, values and mission in life. Should people with common skill...
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The Lightness of “Doing Nothing”

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“ Your worth lies more in your presence than your productivity.” – Amanda Blake Everyone has an addiction. Mine happens to be “busyness”.    Busyness is a cunning one. For over 35 years, it successfully concealed its real identity and thrived in me behind the masks of productivity, ambition, positivity, and sometimes, sense of superiority. I was not aware of its very existence until a few months ago when I left my corporate job and became self-employed. That’s when my world suddenly went “quiet”.    No more early morning team hurdles.  No more late-night calls with Europe HQ.  No more back-to-back business travels. No more last-minute data crunches for the VP. Even the water-cooler moaning and gossiping faded out….   Although I know the meetings, the chit-chats, the steps going up and down the elevator are still there, in the fancy office building visible from my apartment, I just don’t hear them anymore. Like having a bell jar, vacuumed the entire wor...
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Stop Asking What’s Next, Find Your WHY

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“Working hard for something we do not care about is called stress, working hard for something we love is called passion.”   — Start With WHY by Simon Sinek When The "WHAT Search" No Longer Helps   Have you ever had a strange time when nothing on the job search APP makes your heart pumping anymore? Not even the most reputable company names or the biggest job titles? That bewildering feeling happened to me a few years ago. For weeks, I stared blandly at the pages and pages of job descriptions on Linkedin and felt frustrated with why none of them excited me even just a little. A crisis forged inside. I couldn’t stop asking what was wrong with me? Have I lost the drive to move up in career? Or was I being too arrogant? But none of the explanations made any sense back then…    Now looking back at that stance, I can see what the problem was — the old story of “why I do what I do”, which was a blend of the stories told by my ex-employer and professionals liked me, suddenly ...
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The Antidote to Lingering Tiredness

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Sometimes, life can feel tiring.  Like waking up in the morning but reluctant to face the day.  Like an invisible haze covering the sky, persisting to linger.   Tiredness can come from all sorts of spaces.  Sometimes it is the fatigue from being perpetually busy and stressed.  Sometimes it is the heaviness from shouldering momentous responsibilities and risks. Sometimes it is a suppressed feeling from not being understood. Or sometimes it is the anxiety from worrying about the uncertain future.  As if the older we are, the more social responsibilities we have, and the higher standards we hold, the more frequent, violent, and long-lasting "tiredness monsoons” hit us.   Many people don’t know that the most lethal are usually not those direct causes ---- back-to-back meetings, performance targets, change management ---- do not impose enough threats to capable and driven leaders.  What makes us “fall” is often the way we treat ourselves when encounter...
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Best Advice on New Year Aspirations

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New year comes with new aspirations. You could be thinking of having a healthier lifestyle, starting a family, or making a career change. Almost at the same time as you declare the goals, doubts tagged along.  Am I being too ambitious? I didn’t manage to do it last year, will I succeed this time? I have so many ideas, which one to prioritize?...   The most enlightening habit change insight I've come across is from James Clear, the author of New York Time's best-selling book Atomic Habit, he said " You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems."    "Your system is the collection of daily habits that you follow", and your goals are the output of what you put into the system.  Instead of spending your time contemplating on which goals to set or polishing them, focus on cultivating constructive daily habits, building a system that creates a change in you.   And how to create good habits? There are millions of advices out there...
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What Is It Like to Live Your True Calling?

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Do what you love, and you’ll never work another day in your life.   We’ve all heard that on many occasions and from many luminaries. Believers worship it as the antidote to all their sufferings in life. Cynics criticize it as employer’s sugar-coated propaganda to exploits their workers.     For me, ‘do what you love’ means finding that sweet spot in the intersection of one’s purpose, passion, and talents. Bill George calls it the ‘True North’, while Christians named it the ‘true calling’.    I believe there is transformational power when living one’s true calling, not only because its’ universal fame, but more driven by my own journey, tasting the bitterness and sweetness in searching for betterments. Throughout my adulthood, whenever one or more of the three elements is missing, I got stuck, and sometimes, I got lost. And each time when I strove to get closer to the ‘sweet spot’, I found joy, and I thrived from the inside.     The most recen...
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