IME: In My Experience

Put your cell phones away. Turn the TV off. Now just sit at your desk for the next hour. Can you do it? What goes on in your head? What are you thinking about? What do you plan to do?

Most of us, thanks to technology, no longer know how to deal with boredom. Unfortunately, being unable to handle boredom also means we lose the benefits. During those few times, you've had to sit and wait with no cell phones, remember the conversations you had with strangers or random ideas that popped into your head. Boredom is a great way to clear our heads, leading to creativity, self-reflection, solutions, and self-awareness. It also gives us time to relax and unwind from overly stimulated lives. Therefore, we should schedule boredom into our calendars and embrace the benefits.

As we get older, we get stuck in our ways. We like doing things a certain way or using a particular method. However, our environment, technology, and social norms are continuously changing; therefore, we need to adapt and embrace the changes. It doesn't mean you need to like them or even fully adopt them, but you need to recognize and understand them. Take the NBA for example. Before the Warriors won multiple championships, all the analysts and critics said that a three-point shooting team couldn't win it all. Now, look at the NBA and basketball leagues around the world. If you can't shoot threes, you don't get left behind.

In the last episode, I talked about growing up Asian American. A lot of us, especially in Southern California, grew up as the hyphenated American, which means we typically spoke at least another language at home. As we grew up in America, some of us retain our first language and others return it to their parents. Regardless how well you speak a second language, if you grew up in a bilingual household you'll notice that your personality, thought process, and actions change when you're speaking another language. Therefore, language is not just a form of communication but a mindset and personality.

Sometimes, we get stuck in our bubble, and our thoughts and ideas go in circles. At the same time, people around us share similar thoughts and ideas because we typically hang around people like us. Or, you've been in the same industry for years, and the only "new" ideas are recycled. That's when we need to listen to outsiders because they'll bring a unique and different perspective. It's similar to when we watch others play chess, the chess board seems to be so much clearer as opposed to when we're playing. As an outside or bystander, we are less likely to be clouded by our bias, investment, and emotions.

Having immigrant parents and living in a predominantly Asian city, the idea of being Asian American did resonate with me until I got older. Growing up Asian American was just growing up. But as an adult and a father, I started to notice and realize the difference in my up bringing, education, and culture compared to the majority. In this podcast, I talk about my discovery, observations, and share my opinions on the positive and negatives of growing up Asian American.

A good teacher is described as someone who can explain and demonstrate concepts in a variety of ways for different learners and learning styles. This means a good teacher must be adaptable, flexible, and a continuous learner, or a student. For a teacher to be successful, they need constantly learn and improve, not just on the subjects they teach but also on ways to explain, demonstrate, and communicate the knowledge to students.

You don't like sales. You aren't in sales. Sales people are shady and manipulative. Congratulations, you are a sales rep whether you like it or not. Whether personally, professionally, or religiously, we are all representing someone, some organization, or some belief. But I'm not selling anything. You're always selling your credibility, believability, and reliability.

We live in a society that has many distractions. As a result, we glorify the idea of multitasking. Evidence has shown that multitasking is not only ineffective but counterproductive because of the time required to refocus. So instead of falling into the trap, we should go back to being more singular focused on a task before moving on to the next.

The last part of the three-part series is on career and industry change.

You now know you want to change careers or industries, and you've done the research. You've spent time adjusting and managing your mindset to the best of your abilities. What next? You will need to possess new skills you've gained through school or training, but more importantly, you will need to have transferable skills that will help make the transition smoother. In addition, you will need to identify and correlate those transferable skills on your resume and in your interviews.

Part 2 of the three parts is about career and industry change.

Changing careers or industries is stressful due to uncertainty and the unknown. However, many of us struggle with change not because of external factors but because of internal expectations. Often, we know what to expect because we've researched the position or talked to others in the industry, but we aren't mentally prepared. We fail to recognize that the change will not only be for our roles and responsibilities but also our expectations. We've developed a habit and level of comfort with our existing positions that our expectations take time to catch up. Therefore, successfully transitioning into a new career or industry is not only about technical skills or knowledge but also requires us to recognize, understand, and manage our expectations.