I had to study hard and get to a university because my mother said so. I had to tuck in my clothes in school because those were the school rules. Never do drugs, because I will get addicted after the first try. But cigarettes and alcohol are okay.
Cover picture – NWA, a hip hop group that drew from their own experiences of racism and excessive policing to become one of the greatest and most influential groups in the history of hip hop music.
The 20s is a funny age. I suspect this is the age that we Singaporean males learn to man up. In my 20s, I had to see myself through university. I had to figure out what I wanted to do as a career. I had to get married.
Also, in my 20s, I was an impressionable kid. Coming out of the cocoon my mother had built for me, I tried to conform to societal norms. In this regard, I made a few mistakes.
Mistake 1: I gave a fuck what other people said about me
I gave a shit about what other people said about me. So, I tried hard to be a "good boss." To be someone that other people wanted to work with. In doing so, I lost touch with who I am. It took a few career hiccups for me to realize that being weird was a selling point in itself. I did not subscribe to the mainstream, and I was always able to come up with ideas that were not obvious.
Mistake 2: I cared a little a bit too much about money
After I started making money, I got swept away in the one-upping game that Singaporeans love. The obsession with near-term profit drove me to cancel projects faster than I should have. Even if the metrics for every other aspect were growing. Kloudsec was one example.