This week is more of an origin story. 3 decisions in my “career”.

Part II to follow.

And it’s a little more reflective than usual.

Basic Needs

The start to my career was relatively slow - I could never really decide what I wanted and ended up floating for a while.

From a selective entry high school to a generic finance degree, I had trouble answering that cliche interview question “why do you want this job?” from a place of integrity. (Of course, later I learned how to play that game.)

Jobless as a fresh grad for half a year, there were some basic needs I realised I had to meet - financial, job security, general certainty.

And when I did finally land a data entry job, I ended up tripling the daily targets (was literally told to slow down..).

I realised that there was probably another need - for progression.

I started taking a little more initiative, connecting with more people, moved across different functions, grew the ‘brand’, and was even offered different things.
But in the end the novelty wore off, and I found myself caught back in a treadmill.
Working long hours, chasing shiny objects and quick wins – even my weekends blurred into “reward” activities, and I’d rinse and repeat the same fatigue.

Kind of like an old phone with an old battery, briefly recharged, to quickly deplete.

Passion

It was a decisive trip to Japan in 2015 that helped me refocus, consolidating a passion I had since earlier days.
Japanese noodles - Ramen. (Another origin story here, for another time!)

I took advantage of the financial stability I had built up, and invested every spare moment, spare energies, and available resources into this passion.
Working in ramen-yas across Tokyo and Osaka, visiting boutique suppliers across Japan, purchasing a 200kg noodle machine, and of course, eating, a lot.

In 2018, I hosted ramen experiences on weekends, intending to open a hole in the wall eatery that connected food and mindfulness – an antidote to burnout.

It was definitely exciting. I felt alive and adventurous.

Except, I couldn’t secure a lease.(Out of my control!)

It stung. It really did. But if anything, corporate had taught me an important lesson.
We always have options.

Options

If you can’t go forward, go sideways(or diagonal, or whatever)!

I was inspired by the expansiveness of food to learn more about flavour and fermentation – I looked to the Nordics. With some luck(probably a lot to be fair), I secured an internship with a fancy restaurant in Copenhagen for 4 months.

That was the catalyst for corporate resignation. (It felt amazing.)

I continued to learn about food, kitchen culture, cleaning (a lot about cleaning), about leadership styles I like (and don't like), and of course connecting with my fellow globally diverse colleagues.

It was huge.

Maybe a bit too huge.

I was working 14 hour days on my feet, lacking sleep and sunshine in the middle of winter. With my measly prior kitchen experience, I still managed to serve the staff of 90 for a week, create a faux prawn dish end to end (took me the whole 14 hours) for 120 covers a night, and pick an unimaginable amount of herbs(you may have seen the memes in social media of 10 adults huddled together picking herbs for 3 hours, that was me!).

Was this burnout.. Again? Interesting.

Through the process of deduction, I learned that I need something else, autonomy. (And that working in fine dining is not my cup of tea.)

I'd followed the recipes long enough, time to write my own?

The attempt precedes the progress. To be continued…

Ramen Den Experience

Credit to Jason Lu for his film artistry

#12 - Career part I

#13 - Career Part II

#11 - Networking