I Want to Know what I Want

Hi readers -

Last day in Jakarta before I fly back to New York tonight, and let me start with the punchline: I had a blast, learned a lot, and am immensely grateful that I had the opportunity to take such a long break from work to visit home, family, and friends.

I landed into Jakarta's T3 airport the first time on the fifth of January, and that was slightly over two years since I visited my birthplace. The fifteen or so days since has been well-spent, with me being able to enjoy solitary down-time, unproductive easing, and a plethora of family time toward the tail-end. While I maintain that relaxing, watching the rain from my home's balcony, and playing with Mocchi (my family's white/brown Pomeranian) dog is equally important and interesting, let me dedicate this post to three buckets of, if you will, objectives that I had in mind when I first started my vacation. Also! I have been running and gymming and generally keeping fit throughout this vacation, so props to me! Yay.

The big three goals are soul seeking, network-preneurship, and asset management. I think I met and or exceeded expectations in all three, especially the network-preneurship aspect, and I am very happy about it!

I read a lot of Abraham Hicks and some Neale Donald Walsch this vacation. Did not meditate as much as I would've liked, but most importantly I was able to identify positive feelings, and deliberately offer thoughts, gently guiding me to become happier and attract outcomes that are more in-line with whatever my higher self desires. I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Mbak Mary, Priscilla, and Suhu. Through them, I learned to conquer my worries, express myself more fully, and confidently stride to the future while always giving my best.

Asset management was simple - learned from Om Ian that the VC/startup bubble is probably bursting, while perpetually investing in evergreens, companies that would continue to exist as long as Americans exist, is probably the way to go. Updated my annual/quarterly balance sheet, and finally made some conservative asset-class bets in Singapore. Learned that UBS CIO does a stellar job analyzing the APAC economy and the potential technological innovations in the area.

Network-preneurship was a long, fruitful story - made me realize that there is a wealth of opportunities and interesting people to work with/for here, and made me realize that I am blessed with an abundance of network and people who are very very successful and enjoying what they do, even as I have been away for so long (and will probably be!). From the career side, I caught up with two of my Singaporean lawyer friends, and was introduced to an economic consultant in Singapore (obv, a rival firm - nascent opportunities for the litigation consulting field in ASEAN). Tech side is as equally interesting, me seeing Jason and hearing about his flexible lifestyle, working remotely while networking and contributing as a speaker and learning something new everyday, and then learning that this random Singaporean dude who sat next to me is a CTO of an Indonesian student loan startup, and that he has been really interested in poaching Jason. Throughout the trip, he encouraged me to come home and start something new, to keep on learning and not to be snared by the mediocrity trap. Who knew that in the end Jason and I would be visiting his headquarters in Thamrin for lunch. Who knew that the startup scene in Jakarta was so booming.

Two more encounters deserve honorable mention: 1) The late night, three-hour long phone call with Aditya Renaldi, my old friend from middle school whom I haven't seen for eight-or-so years. As he detailed his life's twists and turns, "sampe nangis-nangis terharu, wkwkwk", he was able to come to the conclusion that life is interesting - when he was so desperate for jobs and worried about his career he simply couldn't find one, but when he wasn't looking for them, he got two very amazing opportunities. I didn't tell him this, but folks, this is the law of attraction in action. 2) A wonderful dinner with Indira, who told me that her online media company is already using the human labeling factory to mass-produce training sets for machine learning, and that her boyfriend is actually running a successful advertising startup by putting small adverts on the back of motorcycles. What is fascinating about her boyfriend's story is that he has previously worked in a very lucrative career in a bank, and yet after four or five years working he left everything to start something of his own. And that he is highly ambitious, clearing the CFA easily and then wanting to get a higher education, always working super hard and giving the best, consciously avoiding the comfort zone.

But yes, this trip has been wonderful for many reasons, I have learned a lot, and I can say for sure that there are plenty of amazing people and opportunities here. We shall see.

EDIT:
The advice given to me, who claims to not know what he wants, is to routinely affirm to myself: "I want to know what I want."

Seeing my family and friends living their lives here definitely made me clearer toward knowing what I want. I want the freedom in terms of time and money, I want the health and fitness, I want the strong, meaningful, and beautiful relationships and community, I want to contribute and be impactful, I want to keep on learning and be at the leading-edge of knowledge, and I want discipline, generosity, courage, and an impeccable character and values.