What the future holds?

Only heaven knows ...

1 year ago, I asked my boss ... Mr. Dossa, "So when do you think I can be promoted?", 2 months after joining. Hahaha.

At that time, I also told myself that I will focus only on study & work ... get my promotions, get my MBA and kick off anything else that comes in the way.

Of course I also told myself that I had enough of travelling, was happy to settle down for a career in KL, just keep moving on with a life. Probably get in some social circle, maybe find a partner and the rest as story books say ... lived happily ever after.

Things seemed ideal & mapped out.

However, if anyone was to dispel perfect notions against the final outcomes, I should be the 1st one. Ah, life.

Where it all started
Back in 1993, I was a nobody in school, just another average Joe, with nothing outstanding in either academic or leadership. That was the year I started a wheel in motion ... to be the top 10 best students in the school, where at that time, my position was like 103 in the school. A far shot indeed.

After spending a year in full dedication & hard work, I romped into the top 50 of the school and took people from the middle rungs by surprise with my sudden emergence. But that was undone by an weaker outcome in the government exams & they offered me an average class instead of promotion.

That was a defining moment for myself, as the school put me in the best class (despite I did not qualify for it) just to shut me off. And that was a start of a more defiant person in me & to grab all opportunities .

I took this as a challenge, offloaded all my whims and worked hard to be the best in both academic & activities. By 1995, I was the top 10 in the school and holding several positions in clubs. A transformation indeed. By the end, I graduated as among the top 5 in the school and started off my life in a government high school.

The apprentice
It was also another turning point of my life where I started my working experience by working in retail sales, where I picked up valuable and humbling experience in working for others and of course in the process, earned some well deserved cash, which was a lot for a person of my age back then. My achievements in the job was the start of many things later in my career. But it was not easy as me, a top student, having to bend to scoldings, lecturing and menial work.

Then it, was back to school ... but I worked hard, played hard ... and maintained my top ranking. So, I thought getting good grades in university entry exams would guarantee me a spot in a top course. Fate, had other ideas, which gave me abymysal results, far lower beyond my 'deserved' path.

The trials of leadership
That was another turning point of my life, as for the 1st time in years, I had a wake-up call, explored my other options and had to live shamefully in the result, which I had no idea why it was me. As all sore losers always say, why me? I said it. I was sore. Very.

In university, I got into computer science. Oh, yeah, like wow ... duh. Never really fascinated with computers, only it's games & internet. Hated my 1st class in programmming, every inch of it. Why the fuck am I in this shit hole course and crummy university?

Salvation came in an unlikely form of a student club. But not just any club, least in the way they believe and run the meetings. It was more of an MTV club, with shit loads of crazy projects, dancing, fun and interesting people (besides those malay jokers and chinese KIASUs in class).

Life never promised me anything definite in my path so far. And in AIESEC, I had my ups & downs, but in the end, I achieved more than many others which my generation has. Of course there will always be other better people, but I was satisfied because I did all I promised others to do when I was the leader and ended the career in AIESEC with a top job in HP.

And I thought, here's a good start to a sparkling career in HP. Ah, as I thought. Maybe I should just stop thinking and take life as it goes. I did well in HP (after a stumbling start) but discovered that I did not like Singapore, yearned for Malaysia and anyway, HP had nothing interesting to offer me.

Somewhere along that journey, I spent a lot of time thinking of my destiny in life. It's quite useless to plan strategies in detail after a while, because opportunities and roadblocks just appear at times when we least expect them. So rather, I set a direction a 10 year plan which is now 3 years away.

Oh, by the way, I got my promotion. I got a little restless with my job a while ago (but that feeling subsided). I got stuck in my best circle & did not activate my outer circles. For the recent times, I even thought much about moving away from KL. That's what the heart says, the head says of course otherwise.

For how long, for what and for who, are questions which will linger until opportunity or destiny knocks. And yeah, don't think ... just do it.