Now that I’m back in Malaysia, it’s about time I write about the journey of mine in New York. From the time when accommodation searching was tough to waking up early at 1am to catch my car to the airport, it was indeed a part of my life which will always not fade away in my memory.
In a city with just over 8 million high energy go-getters, the pace of everything happening is not similar at all from where I was born and raised. It was definitely tough to adjust but the intensity somehow motivates me to wake up early in the day to join the ambitious crowd. From the day I arrive, it was already in need of that energy to look for housing, especially with a tight budget, it makes it even harder. Luck is really much needed here as well!
The experience of working in a traditional global marketing, advertising company is indeed an interesting experience. Great workers in the building, and great visionaries as well. The culture of the workplace is definitely different, with conference calls being a daily norm making listening skills to be essential. As usual, I always love to observe how different level of the management levels try to work together as well as motivating each other. Through this lens, it definitely open up my eyes more to see departmental wide, managerial and organisational motivation differ from each other. Indeed, sometimes young blood (us, Gen Y) are definitely needed to be involved to leapfrog against the competitors for long growth sake.
Learning the cultures of the US, Europe and other countries from Asia was also a big enlightenment. I really appreciate how transparent and open my friends are in explaining their lifestyle as well as the working environment of their countries. That helped me in understanding how societies behave differently according to the history, weather, development state, location and size of the country. All of these can be related to the way how the process of dealing businesses in those countries can be different. Certainly, learning about each other really helped us bond even more and the friendship created along the way are just priceless.
Friends, from so many parts of the world, with so many different backgrounds. Thinking back on the wonderful journey created through trips to Boston, DC, Philly, Snowboarding, Hiking at Bear Mountain really makes me want to shed my tear on how much those beautiful moments pass by so fast. The parties and farewell dinners are the sweet and sad pieces of the complete puzzle. The jokes created on some of the people around will, I believe, be remembered, with BIG and Birdar being 2 of them. Missing you guys so much!!
Being exposed to the tech scene in New York is a really eye opening one. Learning how tech startups curate and develop their ideas into business makes me realised that if you have a goal/dream and you are willing to work hard to achieve it, your mind will be creative with your actions following through. Pivoting is the main takeaway from this experience. Stubbornness will never do you any good. If listening would create millions for me, I would not want to be hard headed and stubborn at all. Remember that!
Lastly, the whole process of being aboard and being independent has transformed me, in what way, I can’t tell you exactly. I have to agree with my friend, Sze Wei, that we feel we changed, but do not know in what exact manner. Perhaps for me, is maybe the realisation on the importance of family and humility. Someone important to me once told me that we should always cherish someone if not we will regret once we lose it. I’m thankful for realising it that early in life, and I really want to fix things and making them better. To me this is worth more than going into space! Also, seeing how people live their lifes in America really makes me feel that I’m lucky to a certain extent, and am determined to take precautionary steps for me not to fall into the same hole. More importantly, I do not want my friends to go through the same pain and I want to help whoever I can. Thinking ahead in life is definitely an important one. We just have to put our mind to it 🙂
Independence, friendship, culture education, values, humility, maturity, thinking ahead, motivation importance and personal growth are some of the takeaways for the past 6 months and the process of learning all these were indeed priceless. I’m so thankful!
Oh New York, New York. It will always be part of me.
*No one was hurt during this blog post. Just a minor missing New York syndrome…..