Your Happy Hour - Episode 23: The power of passion, education and calling

Episode Date: May 10, 2024

Happy Friday everyone! Tune in to episode 23 and let’s chat about: The power of education, passion and calling In this episode we are joined by Mochamad Asri aka Mo, who is now working at the forefront of AI in the mecca of technology, Silicon Valley. Mo shares with us his incredible journey of choice and determination. From Indonesia, to Japan, to the USA - he’s relentlessly followed his passion and calling through the power of education.We unpack topics like: one little change can bring the impossible, facing yourself in the pursuit of your passion, understanding your core memories, riding the waves of your dreams, the best advice he’s gotten: you only have to please two people, and finding your calling. We’ll be here - every Friday - celebrating with you!Connect with us @ friday-feels.co▶ Podcast Chapters01:11 Welcome Mo!04:44 Journey to Japan: The power of education09:05 One little change can bring the impossible11:05 Learning new languages16:40 Facing yourself in the pursuit of your passion21:33 Guiding lights & Core memories23:23 Pivotal points: Your subconscious knows26:00 Riding the Wave of Dreams: The US, Silicon Valley and AI27:57 Manifesting Ventures: Creating change in Indonesia34:14 Best Advice: In life, you only have to please two people37:20 Gems of the Week!44:25 Final thoughts: Finding your calling52:25 Next week and farewell

Happy Friday beautiful people and hello to you all out there tuning in for your first sip of the weekend. you're tuned into your happy hour with friday feels we celebrating all you working professionals out there doing your crazy craft embracing the beauty of being human and connecting authentically we're a host sage and nicole we're living and working around the world holding space for you and keeping it raw and real as we share fresh content with you every week. Follow us on LinkedIn at Friday Feels and Instagram at These Friday Feels for updates throughout the week. In our last episode, we chatted with Vanessa Royal, the co-founder of Tilden, who spoke candidly about the entrepreneurial journey and what it has been like pioneering the current wave of sobriety culture

and working towards a more healthy lifestyle through their brand. And this week we are unpacking this theme of the tipping point a little bit further. So it might be a point, a moment or what feels like a destination at times, but the tipping point is really about journeys. We all have our journeys, our stories and our choices. And today we are very, very excited to speak to a global living and working gentleman who has had some very interesting journeys to be where he is today. Mohamed Azri, as I know you, Mo, is now working in the mecca of technology in Silicon Valley. And you're living on the sunny

shores of the US, but you started in the third world country of Indonesia. And actually, you made a stop in Japan along the way. And anyway, you can tell us a little bit more about it. But thank you so much for coming on today to share your story and chat a little bit more about life as an engineer in the ever evolvingevolving world of tech, especially accelerated automation and what it's like to be working in this field in the US. My pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me, guys. Yeah, just a little bit of introduction. I am Mo. I was born and raised in Indonesia.

It's a very beautiful tropical country with 17,000 islands. And I was there till high school. Then after high school, I went to Japan for college undergrad. I spent some time over there for six years and a half and did my undergrad in computer science and master's. Then, you know, I wanted to explore some other places on earth. So I decided to pursue my PhD in the US. And off I went to Texas. I did my PhD over there and again computer science. I was tempted to maybe switch major to horseback riding because of Texas known for cowboy but you know my love for computer science just too overwhelming so I decided to just be dedicated to computer science. So I finished my PhD in Texas, and then I moved to California, a sunny state, the West Coast of the U.S. I worked for Facebook for around three and a half years. And now I am at NVIDIA. We're building chips for AI that, you know, enable all this cool, new and fancy, you know, technologies that we are enjoying at the moment.

So that's a little bit of introduction for myself. Amazing. Thank you. Yeah, I never saw any horses when I was in Texas, but I can understand the draw. So I connected with you a few months ago because I was looking after some lovely chickens in Austin. Yeah. And I was on the beautiful energy exchange learning new things. I was very scared of chickens before that, but now. And I made an amazing friend in Brittany who's a mutual connection.

Yeah, a mutual friend, yeah. And she put us in touch and we quickly learned that we share a lot of passion for the same things in the world, especially how we live and earn, which is maybe another topic and philosophy to explore another day but yeah you know when you spoke about today's topic and having you on you mentioned the power of education passion and and having a calling being really important so do you mind sharing with us a little bit more about what that means for you and why this topic's important yeah so so i grew up in indonesia I had a really happy childhood over there. And I was really enjoying life over there. Very relaxing, slow, coconut fruits every day.

Just amazing. And we really had a great time with our family. Until my dad passed away when I was 11 or 12. It was very unexpected. And, you know, obviously that had a consequence on our family because my mom was a stay-at-home mom. So financially, it was very hard for us. Dad passed away. You know, mom was trying her best to just basically still support me and my sister, you know. She would do side gigs and here and there

just to make sure both my sister and I go to college. And I remember when I was in high school, college and I remember when I was in high school my mom called me and just wanted time to to speak to me she said that you know I gotta be honest you know dad is gone and then I am a stay-at-home mom and you know I am we're not financially there to support you to go to college because it's expensive and then we don't have any financial power. So either you have to work after high school or you have to find someone or some entity to sponsor your college education. So I was kind of a little shocked because I was just assuming that, well, after high school, I'm going to go your college education. So I was kind of a little shocked because I was just assuming that,

well, after high school, I'm going to go to college because that's all what the cool kids do, right? But it was just a moment where I was like, wow, yeah, I needed to find a way. And I always believed that education is really important and it could really make a huge difference in anyone's life you know my dad for example he came from a very far island called Sumatra in Indonesia and you know he worked his way out to Jakarta and work in a government agency and he always stressed, you know, emphasized to,

you know, our, my sister and I about the power of education that really changed everything. So, it was always back in my mind that I really want to go to college because I believe that would really change your world and, you know, all of the give you all the opportunities so i told my mom you know what let's let's you know do some research and see like you know what what options we have so long story short i had this i came across this opportunity from japanese government they have this scholarship free uh year that they would take high school graduates from all countries in the world. And, you know, they could go to Japan, study, and with all the tuition fee covered and stipend also provided. So I told my mom, you know, I'm not the smartest, you know, kid in the school.

Because all I did was play soccer or, you know, play music, you know, guitar. But, you know, in the school because all i did was play soccer or you know play music you know guitar but you know let's try so it doesn't hurt and then we tried applying to that program and miraculously i got accepted these days it's like still mind-blowing to me because you know it was i think thousand applicants and only 10 applicants got selected for this program. I still believe that was probably part of it luck, part of it also my mom's prayer. It was just, yeah, very, very magical. Anyway, so, you know, from the place where I didn't know if I could go to college, now I was about to go to Japan for my undergrad. And then it was a very life-changing experience, I would say, this opportunity of getting college education, particularly in Japan.

And then I went to Japan. And from there, just like new doors keep opening, you Japan Tokyo I learned so many things and then you know it opened up new perspectives and then you know obviously I discovered there are also you know other ways and opportunities then I end up going to the U.S. for my PhD and then know, I end up being in Silicon Valley for work. So what I'm trying to say is, you know, it's one little change in your life. In my case, it was education. Being able to go to college could open so many, you know, opportunities that you would think is impossible. I wouldn't, I didn't even know when I was in high school there's

Silicon Valley, let alone getting education. So I think it is very, very important because it would create things that you would otherwise think impossible. But now with the power of education, it can become reality. I think that's well said. I think your education is something no one can take away from you, right? So it is true. It can always open doors.

And sometimes it's a good insurance policy too. I think Vanessa mentioned that last week on last week's episode. In the context of the entrepreneurial journey and education, some people feel very strongly like you know you can hustle your way into anything which is one school of thought but it's also true you know it's a fact if you do hold a degree at least it's some sort it does open a lot of possibilities that sometimes you can't you know knock on all doors without it absolutely i'm curious i don't know if i'm remembering correctly mo but you obviously didn't speak japanese before you got there

well no i didn't speak japanese at all you know so you were really throwing yourself out there absolutely yeah yeah it was it was crazy i didn't speak japanese Japanese at all before I went to Japan. I literally had zero Japanese. You know, you could say all I know is just, what do you call that Japanese food? Sushi. Right. That's all Japanese, literally, because I love eating, you know, but that's the only Japanese I know. Luckily, that program basically prepared you to go to first language school before you go to university so we were educated for like a year to just speak japanese so that we would understand physics chemistry you know math in japanese right and it was rough i still remember you know there are

nights that i would just think like, oh my God, what lapse of insanity, you know, made me want to come here and study here in Japan. I couldn't even understand the character of the kanjis and all that, you know, very different. You know, in Indonesia, we use alphabet. In Japan, they use kanjis, you know, all to me, they look like dancing drunken worms, you know, it's just like, what are they? You know, it worms you know it's just like what are they you know it's just it's just insane right but i learned that sometimes you know it really requires someone to

be in do or die situation where the biggest growth is just awaiting around the corner and you really had to be in that in that moment because otherwise you wouldn't have thrown everything from yourself. And, you know, they call it what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It's not always the case. I don't believe everything. If you're in a bad situation and, you know, you should be able to assess whether it's worth staying or leaving. be able to assess whether it's worth staying or leaving but in some cases yeah it is true that what doesn't kill you makes you super strong and stronger so it was just one of those things in Japan that I just needed to persevere because what other options I had going back to Indonesia

wasn't an option so I needed to stay and and yeah it worked out magically amazing and then when you went to America did you spoke English or yeah yeah yeah just a little bit yeah I you know I I didn't speak English very well before I went to the U.S. but I guess my time in Japan I was you know you know, I love soccer. I love playing soccer or we call it football in Europe and in global terms, because in America that wouldn't fly. So when I was in Japan, I would, you know, play soccer with, you know, a lot of international students, you know, some of them from Europe, some of them from UK.

So, you know, I kind of casually learn from them through soccer, you know, I passed the ball, you know, and left and right, you know, sometimes they asked to pass to the left, I passed to the right because I didn't understand it. But, you know, through that, I learned a lot, you know, because, you know, it's just like every day's conversation and and you meet regularly so my english is getting better and then you know obviously i still couldn't understand texas accent the first time i came to texas it's really hard it's like what what are you talking about can you slow down a little bit yeah but at least enough to survive uh basic conversation so yeah yeah that's amazing yeah it's interesting like you say how you practically

learn certain languages because i was working with a friend of mine who's also a music composer and he's french but his english is very good and he said oh he learned mostly because he wanted to play music yeah he learned english through the songs that he learned you know like you say it's a practical experience so yeah and i guess you you pivoted into the language of software engineering which is like exactly yeah i learned along the way that you know if the why is strong the how would just follow so if you really have something that needs to be done and you would naturally do everything to get it done and that was just the case for me learning japanese learning english i i needed to because otherwise you know it wouldn't fly you know for example in the first time I came to the States, I was

teaching assistant for 400 freshmen the first semester. So what I'm going to do if I don't understand at least basic English? It's just not practical and impossible. But you're right. It's more fun along the way if you learn that alongside that you love doing. For example, learning English by playing soccer. I think it could be more, a lot more fun doing that than just like, you know, studying a room with books. So, yeah. That's a good tip. I never thought about it that way. I actually remember Alex, who we had on a few weeks ago on the topic of money positivity.

He had also said, you know, if you package the things you don't like doing in a way that you do like doing things like associations, then your brain just opens up. And I think that's really true. So, yeah. What a journey, Mo. I mean, it's just been incredible tipping points for you along the way. And what do you feel was like the hardest thing at those times, like things that you were facing within yourself and kind of discussions you were having with yourself?

What was like that hard tipping point? What made you, besides the need to, you know, there's a passion behind it as well, like you say. You know, you won't just, you could probably go and work as a cashier somewhere, but you have a passion for something. So what was that for you? Yeah, so I think it goes back to my childhood memory. goes back to my childhood memory i was very close with my dad and you know when he passed away obviously it just breaks everything you know my world and everything because he was my hero

was my role model you know i think two years before he passed or one year i forgot you know he years before he passed or one year I forgot, he bought me a computer, my first computer. It's just very big, one with a floppy disk and CD-ROM if you guys remember. And I remember he wasn't the richest man in the neighborhood whatever but we she earned enough for our family so that we we could live comfortably but um apparently she would you know save some money just to you know get me a computer so that i could learn more about new technology i think in some sense it's it really touched my heart knowing that story after he passed away that, you know, he could have bought anything that he liked, but instead he wanted to invest in me and my future. So it was

really, really touching. And then I always carried that memory growing up. I don't know if you guys watched this Pixar movie called, I forgot the title, but it's about core memory. Basically, they're saying that, you know, everyone in this world, they are formed and shaped by their core memories. What are core memories? Core memories, basically all these memories that were formed when you were a kid that shaped your core beliefs and core views about about the world and for me that's that's one of those moments when when i listened or here my dad um was doing or saving money for me it was just like okay this is my core belief that something i need to do something about this and i just couldn't let my dad down you know there's got to be something meaningful and something big behind this so

and that just always made me feel like i wanted to do and study more particularly computer science because of the history or the the stuff that that my dad did to me so obviously along the way it was hard because i didn't have a lot of background computer science and on top of that i was learning japanese, which is another language. But I always remember when things get tough, I always ask myself, what would my dad do? What would he tell me if he sees me struggling? And then I always imagine him telling me that, yeah, I know you're struggling, I know things are hard, but hang in there, you know, because I believe in you, you're going to get through this. So, you know, every time I imagine his face, his voice,

it just gives me extra motivation to keep going until my complete, whatever things that I need to complete. So I guess for me, that connection and bond, my dad, even though he's gone now, but I always can feel his presence. And every time I have difficult decisions to make, I still sometimes ask myself, what would dad say to me?

That's been the core backbone when when i things get rough yeah it's amazing i'm fighting tears here i'm sorry i um i i think it's the veil between humanness and spiritual so thin you know we sometimes feel that the person's so far away um but the essence of the energy is still there and so it makes sense to me that you feel him so strongly yeah yeah and we all need that guiding light you know we all need that sometimes you have to be that for yourself yeah i think sometimes that's hard to be that for yourself but yeah that's it's a beautiful thing that you could share that with your parents and that bond so yeah thank you for sharing that with us yeah thanks the movie name now i remember it's called

inside out if anyone uh is interested i think that was the one that was an interesting movie i think i watched it with like some little cousin and I was like crying. It's such a good movie. I was not expecting this. It's such a good movie. And they're coming with a second sequel this June. So yeah. Oh, nice. Well, I had to watch it.

I had to find a kid as an excuse to watch it. Animations are often like that, right? Like they're very much actually for us as adults to remind us to be children and yeah pixar does a good job yeah yeah i'll have to watch it i haven't yet it's a great movie yeah yeah it's good for kids too because i mean it's good for adults but it's good for kids because sometimes they can't identify their emotions so um it helps it's like i think the whatever the feelings are personified and so but their age is probably like maybe like five six or up to like

10 13 so it's interesting because that's i mean even adults have problems yeah and they're feeling so it simplifies the framework yeah that it's good think about theirs themselves and their identity you know so yeah so i'm curious you know now you're working at nvidia and you're also building something really cool. Can you tell us about what that tipping point looked like for you? You know, what is it that kind of drew you to starting something out on your own? Was it a problem? Was it an itching or a feeling that you had to push this out? Just curious. Yeah. So I, you know, when i was in japan first year i still remember freshman i got interviewed by a local journalist he was basically interested in knowing more about

the struggles that international students are facing in japan so in that interview, he was asking me about, you know, my life in Japan, and etc. But one of the questions that he asked was, you know, what do you want to do once you're done with your education in Japan? And me being like, I don't know, 17, 18 years old, probably. I didn't really know what I wanted to do, right? But I just casually told him that, you know, I wanted to go to the U.S. because I wanted a Ph.D. over there. And I wanted to study more because I like this field. And then once I'm done with my study, I want to go to Silicon Valley because I want to work with the best engineers in the world, I said. And then once I'm done with Silicon Valley, I said, I want to go to Indonesia to build something from, you know, stuff that I will have learned throughout all my journey.

And I was like 18 years old. I didn't even think through it. You know, it was just like a dream, right? And I didn't even know how to get to the US. You know, I was not a crazy rich Asian, maybe a little bit crazy, not rich. Yeah. So, you know, it was just interesting, the power of maybe your subconscious that you you just told people you didn't you might have not thought through that but that gives you some hint and then you know when i

graduated my phd and worked silicon valley i saw that article back the interview and i was just sobbing i was crying oh my god-year-old me was dreaming this. And now here I am, you know, basically to the point that he wished my 18-year-old. So it was just a moment that I feel, oh, wow, I'm glad that I could honor this 18-year-old dream. i'm glad that i could honor this 18 years old dream and from now i don't want i only i want to do more so that this 18 years old wild dream can even be bigger and bigger so start working for meta i always wanted to you know worked with some forefront technologies at the time we were doing AR and VR, augmented reality and virtual reality. And then 2023 came along and then, you know, it was the era of generating AI. And then when I saw this technology, I was like, wow, I really was super

impressed with the technology. And then it only makes sense that I wanted to ride the wave. So when NVIDIA is the best, best company to ride this wave, in my opinion. So the move was just only natural. And I wanted to work with the core forefront technology. And it only makes sense that I joined nvidia and ride the wave so that was like tipping point that i i wanted to experience this new and coolest technology and obviously that's for a reason that it's fun to be in forefront technology but also i wanted to get that perspective when i see this new things happening right right? Now I can have that perspective

and maybe I could even build something new going forward with myself or with my own things because I've been there. Sometimes if you dream about something because you've not been there, you're like, oh, maybe my idea is just too crazy, too wild. But when you've been there, you've witnessed how new technology emerges

you feel more confident yeah i've ridden a lot the wave now i'm very confident about the new wave that i'm trying to create so that's basically the the thought process that's like manifestation absolutely and so you were saying that your 18 year old self wanted to go back into indonesia and you know do something cool i know last time we chatted you had some really cool ideas of what that could look like right um i don't know how far you are in this venture and how much you us. Yeah, so it goes back to the issues that I care about and I'm passionate about. We mentioned about education. You know, in Indonesia, I think less than 40% or even 30% of people over there or even 30% of people over there had graduated from high school. So it is, if you compare the numbers to other countries, it is pretty low. And when we talk about, you know, how education can change your life in the best way possible, I think I'm really drawn to that because I've been there.

I was one of the kids a couple years back and I was fortunate enough at least to get a high school education but not a lot of my people over there could enjoy the same thing. And now I'm fortunate enough to even have experienced higher education degrees. So there is a growing calling for me, a voice that calls me to like, okay, now you've experienced what it feels like to be able to get education at the highest level. be able to get education highest level um and then but you know i was also just a kid you know a couple years ago or a couple decades ago that um wasn't sure about my future so i'm sure a lot of kids in indonesia were like that too and they didn't even know like why we should go to get a high school education. So I really wanted to help because it is a personal story for me because I was one of them.

And that's the number one calling that I wanted to help my people so that they could unleash the best potential that they can achieve. And potential that you know they can achieve you know and that is massively helped by education i always believe so i think that's always been the fire inside me that i wanted something you know i was now fortunate enough and i want to give back to to to where i belong and obviously to build that education, improve the education system, you need some capital and stuff like that, right? So I could

not just go there and say, okay, we're going to improve education system, build more schools. How are we going to do that? So another thing that I wanted to do is obviously build some sort of business over there, right? Leveraging what I already know, learn and experience here. And I think there's a lot of potential things to do too in Indonesia. Economic growth constantly above 5%, which is really nice. It's growing, lots of development happening. So, you know, I wanted to also contribute and do something to help people unleashing their true potential from the industry sector point of view, but also from education. But if I can do this at the same time with the industry hopefully hopefully

generating revenues then I could also build the education part and then at some point this is going to just be like you know supporting each other so that's my biggest dream and ultimate dream yeah well we're really excited to see you build that and, you know, where it's going to lead. And Indonesia is a beautiful country. I've only been to Bali, but I feel like I also only saw like a little piece of that, you know. And so at some point we'll have to go visit and I hope you can be my tour guide. Yeah. We have 17,000 islands, so I're not going to run out of islands.

That's not now. Every year, I'll never get there. Do you go back often? Yeah, at least once a year. That's good. Yeah, I miss the coconuts over there. Every meal. That's true.

We drink ones in the caribbean and they taste different than the ones from like thailand or central america so now it's just like all right let's just cut it for the tree you know because that's like the closest you get it's really weird um yeah i guess wherever you grow up or are used to that place because it was so funny when like you know when you go on cruises or you go to anywhere where they say it's like caribbean and they give it to you in that like brown coconut shell and i remember my dad always used to be like this is not the right coconut this is not the right like nobody eats this and nobody drinks this and i used to be like what is he talking about and now i'm like oh my god i know like i would never

but nobody actually drinks like the the that's an old coconut that like people throw away and like great and stuff like they want the young one that's sweet you got it yeah you got it so he he's like go off and be like this is like a tourist thing and i'm just like what is this man going off about but now i'm like yeah don't give me that now you know yeah yeah i'm not an expert on coconuts coming from south africa but we do have um we have other interesting fruits that also you taste elsewhere in the world and you think it's not quite the same but I am very excited to taste both the Caribbean and Indonesian coconuts now yeah Mo I'm just I'm really inspired by your journey

and yeah I'm I mean obviously you've had you've walked a difficult path to get here and you've I'm sure you've had some people along the way that have been mentors what do you feel like has been the best professional advice that you've received that's um that's a very uh good question I feel like I've received a lot of really good advice along the way but I think I'll pick this one. My mentor, one of my mentors in Austin, he said, there are only two people that you need to impress. One is your six years old self. And the second is your 80 years old self. The former tells you how big of a dreams that you had or you wish you had that inner child of you the latter basically tells you how much meaningful

life you had and then if you could please these two people then everything else really doesn't matter and i really like that advice because i think you know it first honors your inner child inside of what's your wildest and biggest dream but also you think in the future you're projecting yourself and try to ask yourself if i do this would i be happy when i am 80 years old would i you know would i have done like all the things that i wanted to do throughout my life so you know in that manifest um the different ways and things in your life you know when you make tough decision for example you uh i stick to this framework okay what would my six years old say what would my 80 years old say you know and then with that framework either professional or personal uh matters it brings the pressure down and it gives you clarity

you know what decisions are aligned to what you want in your life so yeah i'd say that one yeah that's it reminds me of some a lot of the inner work that i've been doing along my journey has been about you have to be the parent to your inner child you have to comfort that space and you also need comfort so it's it's beautiful you know being a parent to yourself being a child that whole dynamic treating yourself adult to adult sometimes taking on all those those roles within yourself and that's a really nice way of doing that so yeah that's awesome advice yeah i love that it's beautiful advice and it definitely does take the pressure off i would say and give you some clarity thank you for sharing that of course yeah i think it might be a nice segue for us into our gems because that's such a beautiful gem.

Yeah. So we do this thing every week where we talk about gems of the week and it's really just, you know, what is making us be good working professionals in the world, what fills your cup, anything that really just stood out for you from the week. So I'm going to pass the baton. Sasha, do you want to kick us off? Yeah sure so this week we were really busy kind of moving and going all over the place on short notice which seemed like it was

going to be like a much smaller thing than it turned out to be and a much more seamless thing than it turned out to be so So for me this week, I think just kind of getting back into holding boundaries, you know, seeing what I can do and then trying to delegate a lot more has really helped me because at some point you realize you just cannot do everything yourself. I think for me, that's been really helpful in terms of prioritizing and also creating clarity for my week and my goals and just seeing like, okay, who can I utilize as resources who have offered, you know, multiple times, but maybe didn't take them up on it or didn't think it was necessary or just prioritizing rest like whatever those

boundaries happen to be because you're not feeling well everything kind of goes out the window so I think for me that's really helped me just be braver with my boundaries sometimes I think I do a pretty good job but then I realize when I'm depleted like obviously I didn't do a good job either you know prioritizing rest or delegating so it's a constant battle and then just realizing also that you know old ways won't bring new you know new energy in so assessing you know how I've been doing things and if there's a better way to do it so I think a lot of times and we talk about this a lot you know there is no set path for entrepreneurship and so you're kind of making it up as you go and I think it's important to kind of honor your own self boundaries otherwise you just never get to where you're trying to go because you're so busy, like combating things on the way there. I think boundaries is one of the first topics that we kind of covered in our first few months.

And I had to go back and seriously think about. And it kind of took like people close to me saying something to be like, oh, yeah, you're right. I should. I should. I should reassess this. What about you, Nicole? That's great. I hope your boundaries, you're finding them being blissful now going forward. A little bit.

I think it's still uncomfortable for me, but it kind of reaches a point where it's like, it's like one of those choose your heart, right? You do everything yourself. And then you kind of have to deal with that. You don't do everything yourself and might not feel comfortable asking or pushing off things on other people or like asking for help or their input, but then you free up time. So it's's a constant I feel like push and pull with that but it is a little easier after talking about it for so many times I feel you I feel I still uh I'm still practicing setting blissful boundaries as well. I think it's a constant thing. For me this week, it's been a really interesting few weeks of synchronicity.

I don't know if you guys have read up a lot about when you keep picking up your phone or you keep looking at the clock and it's 10, 10, 11, 11, 23, 23. And it's like all these little signs that have been coming through and I've now started researching what they all mean because they all have their different like little meanings and kind of what am I doing just before this you know at that time so that I can understand the synchronicity and the message so it's been a lot of validation from the universe that I'm on the right path which has been wonderful giving me kind of a sense of confidence because sometimes you feel uncertain in yourself and where you're going

and then just also seeing like again you know we all know these things but like when you make a little mind shift that's honoring who you are putting a boundary in place or you know doing the right thing then all of a sudden the universe, like things happen, you know? And somehow it's always surprising when that happens, but it's like, it's the most obvious thing. So yeah, I just made some really like big decisions within myself, realizing certain chapters have come to a close within myself.

And once I recognized that and kind of stepped into that calmness, yeah, just, you know, beautiful blessings and surprises have been flooding in. So it's been really, really cool. It's really been filling my cup and energizing me. And yeah, that's pretty much mine. Mo, how about you? I think this week is mostly about setting intentions for me.

Or not setting intentions, but being aware of the intention when we're doing our things. I think, you know, there are so many things that I want to do, I want to achieve. And then obviously, probably so little time, right? How do we feel that way and sometimes it could basically feel that oh my god you know there's so many goals that uh still are not um accomplished yet and then you are in this autopilot mode where you're just trying to like okay do do do do more but then you forgot why am i doing this you know what's the intention behind this you know and i think reminding ourselves about why what what are the intentions of behind the stuff that we're doing i think at least personally helped me

to you know zoom out from this autopilot mode, that I do things more intentionally, allocate resource more intentionally, and in the end, it just helps me better both doing things more effective, but also get that mental peace of why I'm doing certain things. And it's okay if things don't go as planned or scheduled and yeah that just gives me peace and but still the drive and enthusiasm to get things done yeah yeah yeah intention is always something to be assessing because those intentions manifest very directly so

I find at least in my life but yeah I think it's a great great thought and you know for our audience out there listening you know as we think about our gems and and this question you know what choices do you feel like you've been making to follow your passions or you know what have what are the things that have brought you to your tipping points and the crossroads in your life? And how have you been setting intentions or thinking about your calling? Do you feel like it is still calling you out there? Or do you feel like you're living it?

Yeah, we'd love to hear your thoughts and your journey. Yeah. So I always believe that a true calling boils down to two things. First is where you're needed the most. And the second is where you can contribute the most. And if these two things are satisfied in a thing, you know think most likely that's your true calling. This calling can change over time as we evolve and grow in our faith and life. But I think having this framework helps you to identify

where you should channel your energy and resources the most to your tourist calling for me obviously my calling has changed over time you know when i was 18 or 17 years old my calling was just i wanted to get a college education wherever it might be you know it ended up being in japan but you know who knows if knows if North Korea had a scholarship program, I would probably have gone there, you know, just to get a college education. And also at the time, like I said, my mom was a stay-at-home mom and my sister also was going to college. So we need some sort of financial resource right so then when I was in

Japan I also was doing part-time to kind of you know help mom financially so that my sister could still go to college and you know take care of other expenses so that's another calling basically that I really need to make sure that mom's right over there and my sister could also get a college education. You know, and when I went to the US, my calling was like, I want to work Silicon Valley because I want to see like what it feels like to work with the best engineers in the world you know but i would say that you know meeting people from different background and living places where they have different cultures i would only help you find that calling because you get exposed to different way of thinking you get exposed to different way of doings you get exposed to different way of doings you get exposed different ways of like what happiness means right so obviously my time in japan was very different from you know the

cultural way of thinking that i got exposed in indonesia and that only enriched my perspective about you know life in general and Japan is very you know collective based country society right then I moved to the US where it was totally the opposite it's like the core tenet of individualism right total opposite from from from Japan but then I got exposed again to different ways of thinking and cultures and and mindset and identity. You know, sometimes I joke with my family and my friends. When I go to Indonesia, they don't think I'm Indonesian anymore because it's just like very different identity.

You know, obviously not a lot of Indonesian guys have long hair. Probably that's one. And second, also sometimes they just feel like, whoa, yeah, the way that you're thinking, the way that you're approaching problems, very different the way people would approach problems over here. That's just because probably that's part of my story. I own it now because I got exposed to different cultures and different stories. I own it now because I got exposed to different cultures and different stories.

But that, for me, helped massively because now I was not only laser focused or limited to one particular point of view, but I have seen different point of views and different ways of doing things. And then that culminates together to together to form like who am i uh truly right what is the unique contribution that i could give to this world and you know it's it's so that in the event that after i'm done in this world everyone can say that the world was better because I was here. So that's the ultimate holy grail that I'm trying to achieve. And I'm grateful that because I got exposed to these different cultures, it just helped massively to see it from many different angles.

So, yeah, I hope that answers your question. Yeah, that's amazing. We talk about that often on here, living and working around the world and big proponents of people having experiential learning, like you say, and integrating that into yourself. And, yeah, that's wonderful. I think if that is everyone's holy grail out there the world will be a better place so um on that where can people find you

how can they connect with you and uh yeah you can find me on linkedin i rarely do social media i'm now that i quit social media company we wouldn't delve too deeply into now that I quit social media company. We wouldn't delve too deeply into that. But yeah, I would say LinkedIn would be the best way to connect and reach me and then just start my name and I'll accept your invite. Yes.

Well, thank you so much for sharing your story and your advice. I think it was very enlightened. I'll definitely be listening to this episode a few times in the next week. I really appreciate your perspective. And we look forward to all great things that are coming that are coming from you and with you. And we look forward to seeing what that looks like. You know, what would your vision, last question, be for in a year from now?

Where do you see yourself? I would still see myself with long hair, hopefully longer. I would keep my hair long. No, but I think in the next year, I would envision myself to first grow in my career at NVIDIA. But also I want to have a site project personally for me that could basically bring me closer towards the vision that I talk about, either in the business side or helping more with the education system in Indonesia.

I would love to gradually see that happen. And then I think that would bring, you know, so much joy and also more motivation to just learn more about what I need to learn to achieve that goal. And just makes me feel more alive in this world and wake up every morning, feels that, yes, we have some exciting stuff to do. That's how I see myself. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. Well, I think that kind of wraps us up. Our listeners, Nicole, gave some really good pointers.

We encourage you to think about where the tipping points have been in your life and share it with us and we'd love to hear from you remember to tag us using hashtag these friday feels to share your stories and listen to us on all your favorite platforms and to work with us or have us broadcast friday feels from your space or organize your next vacation feel free to reach out to us at hello at friday-feels.co. And next week, we are making moves in the music industry and we're chatting to a very dynamic entrepreneurial woman, Madeleine van Geerens, who has lived a life you see in the movies

and has then stepped out of it onto her own to make magic and what she loves best so stay tuned for episode 24 next week as we uncover the challenges in making those tough decisions but the rewarding ones but until next time that is our mix we've had so much fun mingling with you and we wish you safe travels into your bed into the night and into this awesome weekend so see you next week and keep it real