Happy This ONE Friday!

As I write this article, I am going to watch the Singapore-China Football ⚽ match in the Singapore Stadium, part of the Asian World Cup Qualifying games. Neither team is known to be great. China ranks 88th, and Singapore ranks 156^th in the world.

One might say, what’s the point! Neither team will ever win the World Cup anyway.

Do you believe in fortune-telling? This is not my kind of thing, but I must tell you a story here.

When I was 23 and worked in a tech start-up, the business owner next door claimed to be a self-made astrologer. He took the birthdates of a few of us young employees. As my chart revealed to him, I would author books one day and become well-known. It also seemed that I’d have good luck with real estate and own multiple of them.

Fast forward to today, I am not sure if I lived up to my full potential in real estate, but certainly, I have authored quite a few books by now.

The amusing fact is not that the astrologer was “accurate” but that I couldn’t have been farther from publishing a book at that time. I loved writing since young and dreamed of becoming a big-name writer like Tolstoy, Milan Kundera, or Garcia Marquez.

But I soon realized that I didn’t live in a magical country with lots of fantastic materials in a fast-changing time. Nor did I possess any significant literary talent. Low chance of success, and yet it demands an enormous amount of effort.

What’s the point! I said to myself. And stopped writing altogether.

I only started writing again when I found out “What’s the point.” It took me 12 years though, which I could have spent writing, or learning about writing.

This painful loss of 12 years has been keeping my learning alive.

This ONE Idea

What’s the point

?

I. Doing difficult things, e.g. The Leadership Grill

Leadership is hard. Just like how people complain about their bosses, leaders complain about their teams, too. The lazy team. The toxic team. The team that resists changes. The team that defends itself against growth.

The leader gets exhausted like Sisyphus who has to keep pushing a rock up the mountain, only for it to fall back again. And then, “What’s the point!” sets in.

The process of doing something difficult can be a painful quest filled with failure, rejection, and hopelessness in life.

Or we can choose to see it differently. For example, an experiment.

That’s when we can learn to fall in love with the process.

Click here for full article with Ideas on how to fall in love with the process.

Whether in leadership or doing anything difficult, the point lies in the process of learning. Take an experiment mindset and we can move forward boldly and relentlessly.

II. Self-doubt and Tech Leadership Transition

Transition from technical expert to tech leader requires a great deal of mindset shift. Sometimes it feels like an enormous task. The business world may seem scary compared to the logical, factual, technical world. Sometimes, self-doubt creeps in.

Stop saying, “I’m not cut for it” (and perhaps, “What’s the point?”). Start working on your capability to connect. The point is about unlocking a potential you can’t yet fully envision.

Connection can be learned. I have been dedicating my time to coaching connection: connection with oneself (self-awareness), with others (interpersonal), and with the bigger system (systemic awareness).

And by the way, in case you are an introvert like me, it’s an asset, not a liability.

Read how I debunk the myths about introverts

III. Anxiety and Job search in a tough market

The tech industry has been retrenching (both because of good and bad reasons). “What’s the point!” sneaks into the minds of many. And if you are job seeking, you know clearly that losing motivation is the last thing you need right now.

👍 Acknowledge yourself for your insights about reality: that good opportunities might be few and far between, that the job search process will take long, and that rejections will be prescribed on a daily basis.

You will want to honour your insights, make plans and take actions according to the market condition.

But hey, if you find yourself anxious and demotivated, you will need to address this question first: “What is the point?”

Look harder and find your own answers. There must be a point beyond the outcomes of finding a job, having a stable income, and growing in career.

Read full article for the 7 answers others have found for themselves.

In essence, find your drivers, shift your mindset, and go full in with your resilience and resourcefulness.

Question For You

Have you been saying “What’s the point!” about something?

Have you found your answer(s) to “What’s the point?”

 I found mine about writing.

I fell in love with the process of writing, not the outcome of getting somewhere.

I enjoy it. Writing offers a beautiful space to spread out ideas, develop them, connect the dots, and find innovative expressions.

I can experiment with it. I’m not very good at it yet. So I can always discover better ways to do things.

It can unlock a world of potential that I never envisioned. I still don’t know what that is. But the good thing is that I am on the journey.

My latest books:

“The Visible Invisibles”, 2023, Penguin Random House

“Rebels, Traitors, Peacemakers”, 2024, Penguin Random House

A little poem by Anonymous

What's the Use?

What's the use of a tear?
Who'll buy it, night?
What's the use of a sigh?
No one in sight.

What's the use of a heart?
What's the use of a name?
Who'll carry the care?
What's the use of a dream?

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This ONE: What’s the point? The leadership grill, unstuck from tech roles, and job searching in a bad market​

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Until next week,

Yolanda Yu
Coach and lifelong learner

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p.s. I am speaking at the following webinar…

Fireside Chat with Nandini Joshi, COO, StashAway

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Every Friday, I share ONE idea and its manifestations and 1 question for you to ponder. Other ingredients you can expect will be book extracts, quotes, metaphors, tools, resources, and mini-exercises to keep growing your self-awareness.