0 — 27

Story about stepping out of my comfort zone

0 — 21

Growing up, I have always been a follower. I am always curious about learning new things, but I was never the kid who raised hands or answered questions in classes. I dislike being the center of attention.

21 — First Step : Become passionate about learning

I was 21 in college. I didn’t like going to classes as I have started losing motivation in learning. Things started changing when I started learning Japanese. As a Math/Science student, most of my classes were large and required more studying alone. It was easy to hide and still do well. However, in a language class with only less than 10 people, I can no longer hide and I cannot learn if I do hide.

I started asking and answering more questions in my Japanese class. Rather than practicing to get good grades, I felt more content about actually learning itself.

When you are passionate and eager to do something, you will naturally step out of your comfort zone.

24 — Second Step: Open new door

I was 24, a fresh grad from college. I studied data science for my undergrad and masters degree. I also wanted to have an internship and a job like everyone else. Not knowing what I really wanted to do, I just signed with the first company that gave me a really good offer. I did not really think about job fit or my future aspiration. I was tired of endless recruiting and just wanted to have a job, like everyone else.

This opportunity got me a business analyst job at Capital One, working on their strategy team. It was an incredible and eye-opening experience as I work with senior executives, understanding about management strategies. My manager was a former consultant who taught me about formulating strategies, communicating with senior executives and building effective decks that tell a story.

I am glad that I went with the flow, and opened a new door, gaining some invaluable experience and skills coming out.

25 — Third Step: Lead something

I was 25. I learned about analysis but I understood my weakness was in leadership. During my time as a business analyst, I often got into analysis paralysis and was not confident to make a recommendation. After all, I was just a 24 year-old fresh grad who just learned about income tax. How do I make decisions for a Fortune 500 company?

My next opportunity was in product management. I have always been interested in the tech industry, and wanted to get my hands dirty. I lead a team of 5 engineers, who rely on my judgement and decisions every day to execute. Strategy was great, but execution was never the same as planning. I Unlike my previous job where I get to do very deep analysis into a high-level problem, this job requires more quick analyses and making decisions every day.

As someone who has always been a follower going with the flow, I am surprised by the amount of decisions that I were able to make during this time, and grew as a leader.

27 — Today: Lead my own life

I turned 27 this year. 3 years away from 30, when Chinese believe that a person should have made big accomplishments and contributions. I believe that every job has an expiry date. That is when you stop learning, or even worse, start picking up bad habits. Today is the day for that. I believe that I need to move on in order to learn more and grow.

I am grateful for all the opportunities that allowed me to grow as a person. I have grown out of being a follower, and I need to decide for my life next. I need to stop going with the flow and hope to learn something new. Instead, I need to understand what I am good at and what I want to do. However, I won’t keep stretching my comfort zone. But this time, I want to decide where I want to grow and I want to do.

A year in lock-down really helped me understand my priorities in life around my family, relationship and career. There are things that won’t change — passion about learning and stepping out of comfort zones. Next chapter, I want to be the product manager, designer and engineer of my own life.