2 days ago I attended a session organised by Thrive as I was keen to find out more on this topic and was also curious to hear from Dione Song, CEO of Love, Bonito as she doesn't usually seem to be in the limelight compared to Rachel. I was unfamiliar with the other 2 panelists but the whole session turned out to be a great night of learning and gaining new perspectives just hearing from all of them. You can check out this article for some of the pointers shared and hopefully pick up some insights for yourself. In this post, I will be sharing the few points that stood out for me, as well as some of my own thoughts on them.
1. Resilience
Fun-loving Dione shared a twist on this popular quote (by David Shrigley) to illustrate her firm belief in seizing opportunities when they arise and pushing through difficulties:
When life gives you a lemon, you must eat the lemon; all of it including the skin.
I initially thought this was kind of funny but then a similar parallel from the bible hit me - Joshua and Caleb seeing the gaints in the promised land as bread. While the other 10 spies were intimidated, they adopted this attitude of feeding on their challenges. More giants, more bread for them. The act of feeding on something gives strength and energy, and when we feed on our challenges, they will grow us and strengthen us.
2. Work-Life Balance
I really love what Khai shared on work-life balance. Before we keep demanding for work-life balance, we have to first be clear of what we want in life. Having that clarity will allow us to decide on the tradeoffs we have to make. If you just want to work 8 hours every day, then don't complain when your colleague who is working 14 hours gets promoted instead of you. Each of us have different priorities in life, and even those can change over time as we transit into different seasons of life. If we don't know what we want, it is difficult to picture our ideal work-life balance. He also shared this quote with us:
The tradeoffs made today will impact the life we live tomorrow.
If we take a career break today, our career prospects will be affected. Conversely, if we go all out in our career and constantly work long hours, quality time with family and friends will take a back seat. Dione added on very aptly, "Decide on your tradeoffs and be comfortable with what you what. No judgement on what someone else wants as well."
3. Finding Meaning at Work
There was a question asked on how we can find meaning in our work and I love Amanda's answer. She shared that sometimes we may find it hard to be passionate about the company's overall mission, or we feel like we are just a tiny cog in the wheel. However, if we cannot find meaning in the macro, we can find it in the interpersonal connections at work. We can strive to be someone who is kind, reliable, pleasant to work with. We can also look for opportunities to mentor a colleague, or just be helpful when the need arises.
When she shared this, it resonated with me because that is exactly how I try to find meaning in the work that I do. I do think that my current scope of work has meaning, but I derive more satisfaction in helping colleagues and building friendships that allow us to lift one another up. Seeing a colleague encouraged brings me more joy than when my program runs smoothly.
4. How do we Find our Calling?
This is another commonly asked question, and the wisdom that came from all 3 panelists was evident. Khai Our calling is an acquired taste. Often times you will only know it when you start doing it. Trying many different things along the way validated what I didn't like. But even that can be used to gain a deeper appreciation of why certain things are done in certain ways, and it helped me in another career that I went into subsequently.
Dione We usually know what we don't like. Just keep trying and be open to opportunities as and when they arise. Life is too short to wonder and think about "what-ifs". Along the way, if something is not working out and you decide to call it quits, be ok with that tradeoff.
Amanda
Go back to your childhood dreams. In your early years your instincts were strong. There is a lot of power in what was seeded at a young age so don't brush that aside.
All in all it was a great 1.5 hours spent with the panelists and I am thankful to Thrive for organising this event and getting such awesome panelists on board. Lots of food for thought to digest and ponder on in the days and months ahead :)
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