(Bad) Action is better than Contemplation

So 12 hours ago I just hop off a call with my wonderful coach Chris Hnin.

Where we aligned that I will hop over my protective fence to confront my fear of being imperfect in public, write something about myself, and share it with the world.

Share it with the world.

Share it with the world.

…Scary.

What information do *I* have to share that will be valuable? That will be worthwhile of their time?

What rights do I have to even?

But then, I thought about my lovely roon nongs from work and networking events, asking me: Phi Ueai, how did you get to where you are?

. . .

This is how you do it.

You just do it. Haha - without fully knowing what’s coming next.

Feeling a little bit unsettled.

But hopefully a tiny bit hopeful.

That this will lead to somewhere meaningful.

. . .

From experience, it won’t end where you first expected it to be:

• I started K-Pop dancing during Covid because I was bored. Dragged my sister too because I didn’t want to go alone. Now she is a pro dancer (LOL); dancing fuels her life now.

• I started Flamenco dancing hoping I will fix my hunched back. Instead I learned to embrace and appreciate my femininity.

• I started Pilates seeing people hanging from the cardiac machine and thought it was cool. I fixed my posture a couple of months in (lol).

• I joined a recruiting event as a CS-major not knowing what management consulting was (heck my note was titled ‘McKenzie Info Session’). This is my sixth year in McKinsey. I don’t love it, but it has given me access to pretty darn cool people I love and the resources to fuel my curiosity and personal growth.

I can almost guarantee you things won’t end where you first expected them to be.

It will be far more surprising than that.

. . .

So I encourage you,

To also get out there.

Do the thing you had so long wanted to do, but does not quite know how best to start,

And just start anyway.

. . .

No one knows what they are doing (seriously),

But they figure it out along the way.

. . .

It’s time.

. . .

Postscripts

Self-expression is something I have been struggling with! Reading, listening and answering test questions - that I can do. Heck, I am good at it.

Ask me to write, or worse, talk? I’d stare at the blank screen feeling lost and mentally hitting myself in the head for not being insightful enough.

I post funny content, but humor has been my safe zone. Cos who doesn’t like a little joke?

But I am not funny 100% of the time. So what about that 2% of the time when I am not funny??

So thank you for giving me the space to try to do this.

Acknowledgements

‘Action Over Contemplation’ is not mine. I came across it in one of the books I’ve devoured earlier this year and it stuck with me. I was/am an over-thinker. Hits hard.

I think it’s Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.