A week of restlessness for me, wanting to do something more while sitting in front of the computer screen every afternoon for a few hours, trying to optimize my time.
Saw too many youtube videos, thanks to the orange president and his son’s crazy tweets this week. Signed up for more online courses but sad that Coursera is now a fee-based service. Thankfully, Udemy is still around and there are many free ones to try. As a friend had recommended, I am now doing 2 short courses on Mindfulness.
My friends and I did check out a possible business opportunity this week, but it seems that we all want to be silent partners to provide the funds but not wanting to do the hard work, nor do we have any relevant previous experience to contribute to the business relationship. I really do not see what is the value add I bring to the table to a successful entrepreneur other than trying to throw small money at them, which they may not even want.
I had talked about wanting to do something different now as it gets more and more difficult for older PMETs like myself to survive and stay in the banking industry as technological advances like blockchain disrupt the status quo. Now is the time that I walk the talk, learn new skills to seriously upgrade myself to prepare for a new career path. I had just signed up this week for another evening training on how to start your own small business that will start in Oct.
In 2 weeks time, I have also planned a fact finding trip to Chiang Mai on my own to check out and do some research on some existing retirement resorts. This was my pet project last year. I am also on the lookout for business opportunities there as I really think that the Indochina region has huge untapped potential. This will lead to another trip to Bangkok in late Aug to meet an old friend to explore other business leads.
While I never know what all these will bring me to next, I must not stop exploring and learning. While these actions invigorate me, the fear of the unknown is always lurking very near behind me. With age comes risk aversion, a greater fear of failure. The millennial generation is now taught to welcome failure as a learning tool, to embrace change for it is the only constant nowadays. I will have to openly accept this new paradigm shift in order to reinvent myself and remove my old mindset.
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