for those who know me they would know
when I’m in a crowd whether his friends
or colleagues I’m relatively the quiet
one I like to listen I like to listen
when people say I want to have high
scores or I can have fun with my friends
I noticed when people say I want to get
into my dream school or I can pursue my
passion in playing lacrosse
I can backpack across Europe or I can
write my business plan I can achieve my
savings goal or I can splurge on my
favorite dress I can run my business or
I can achieve a healthy lifestyle today
I want to share with you a choice that
I’m very passionate about a choice that
has been catalyzing my life catalyzing
changes and open up tons of
possibilities in my journey a catalyst
in a chemistry world is something that
speeds up a chemistry reaction a
chemical reaction with a catalyst only
needs a little bit of this catalyst to
achieve this this reaction and this
catalyst can be repeatedly used many
many times even after the reaction is
done and the reaction that I want to
talk about today is a reaction that
opens up possibilities help us reach
goals
and enables us to live creatively
the reaction is a creators mindset I can
find a dream job or I can win my parents
approval seven years ago I find myself
talking talking to myself this phrase at
my cubicle at an investment banking job
I had been working for three years after
college after my undergraduate studies
as an economics major
before that I was born and raised in
Hong Kong in a local school in Causeway
Bay and my family is one of the most
traditional Asian families my mom and
dad has worked in the same job for 30
years my sister gone on to become a
doctor and working in an investment bank
although maybe not as prestigious as a
doctor is probably one of the things
that an Asian family like my my own
would approve yet I find myself 11 p.m.
sitting at the cubicle of one of the
buildings in central thinking to myself
gosh I’m living someone’s dream I might
be making good money I might be sitting
in a prestigious building I might be
wearing expensive suits but deep down I
know this is not my passion I wanted
something more and I crave and yearn and
cry out loud in my heart for that I
wanted to create something I wanted to
impact others my own hands and I wanted
to see through reaction in others that I
can work with yet I find myself thinking
I can either find my dream job or
winning over my parents
approval today’s catalyst I want to
share is the choice of choosing and / or
I like to catch myself and catch others
around me when they say I can find a
dream job or I can win over my family’s
approval whenever I hear the word or I
challenge myself to think what if I can
replace it with aunt what if I can do
both what can I do to make possible both
finding a dream job and winning over my
family’s approval I start it started
with a tiny seat in my heart and I
started working on it step by step
7 years from that day today
I cannot say my family is completely
comfortable with me going on an
entrepreneurial path I can certainly say
they’re comfortable they approve of my
choice now to leave a safe job and
pursue something I’m passionate about
the choice of choosing and / or is not
just about career change or is not just
about academic studies this choice
little did I know also open up to
possibilities in my life outside of work
outside a professional career three and
a half years ago I started first
codecademy which today I’m still working
on every day passionately we teach young
kids how to code and more importantly a
creators mindset we believe that through
learning coding a young child as young
as five years old can learn to think
like a creator and I realized by
choosing the word and
is over or is exactly that catalyst that
I needed to embrace that creators
mindset and I believe everybody is
possible to it’s possible for everybody
to make this choice now choosing the
path of being an entrepreneur is not
easy in fact many of many people warned
me before going through that path that
you know being an entrepreneur is one of
the toughest job I would say I cannot
agree more in the past three years maybe
the time the hours the efforts and the
challenges that like every day is thrown
at this job
maybe is probably 10 years make me age
10 years more I remember the first 18
months of starting this company I did
not take any vacations I really saw
friends and most of all I actually
forgot about taking care of myself
I was working every day consumed by
everything that is inside out of my
creation at the same time of course
there’s not a lot of help that could be
found so from taking out the trash to
teaching to talking to parents and
customers and posting on Facebook
everything was on my plates sooo that
early stages of running and stardom I
realized wow my health is really going
downhill I would go to the gym and try
to run 5k and I would feel like dying so
I thought to myself hey they say that as
an entrepreneur you got to give up
something you can either run a business
or you can have a healthy lifestyle
don’t they say you gotta suffer
in order to do something great here I am
catching myself again the word or what
if is not only what if I can replace the
word or with n what if I can run a
business and lead a healthy lifestyle
in fact last year I decided to take this
to a next level I decided that I can run
of business and I’m gonna train for my
first triathlon for those of you who may
not be familiar triathlon is about
swimming biking and running and this is
you’re talking about a person that when
I was in secondary school I could barely
run for nine minutes
I remember in physical education class
my least favourite subject of all I
would be the last person at the corner
and in the basketball court I actually
never haven’t been able to shoot through
that net so talking about this challenge
and talking about challenging and
mindset four months of hard work four
months of seven to 10 hours of week
training last October I completed my
first Olympic distance triathlon in 3
hours 30 minutes nothing maybe the
distance and the time nothing to write
home about but I believe that through
making small steps and through being
aware of our thinking our words that we
talk to ourselves replacing the word or
with and we open up possibilities what
if you can get high scores in your exams
and have fun with your friends at the
same time maybe we can form study
sessions and have a meal grab a meal
before and after study sessions what if
you can backpack across you
and write a business plan at the same
time maybe through traveling abroad you
can inspire yourself to find new
business ideas or validate your ideas
through talking to more people the
possibilities are limitless once we
identify what we’re limiting ourselves a
catalyst speeds up a chemical reaction
through choosing and / or you we
challenge ourselves to think creatively
opens up ourselves to a richer lives
full of new possibilities and at the
same time challenges the assumptions
behind our limited thinking this
catalyst can be used repeatedly as well
you only need to start being aware of it
whenever you talk to yourself he catch
yourself saying or and challenge to
replace this with and only a tiny bit is
needed and when we’re not limiting
ourselves to choosing one over the other
we’re living we’re going after what we
truly wants we’re creative
we’re motivated we’re constantly
expanding our possibilities and we’re
passionate so go ahead and start hearing
start listening around you listening to
yourself
whenever you say the word or challenge
with end and create your possibilities
thank you
[Applause]
when I’m in a crowd whether his friends
or colleagues I’m relatively the quiet
one I like to listen I like to listen
when people say I want to have high
scores or I can have fun with my friends
I noticed when people say I want to get
into my dream school or I can pursue my
passion in playing lacrosse
I can backpack across Europe or I can
write my business plan I can achieve my
savings goal or I can splurge on my
favorite dress I can run my business or
I can achieve a healthy lifestyle today
I want to share with you a choice that
I’m very passionate about a choice that
has been catalyzing my life catalyzing
changes and open up tons of
possibilities in my journey a catalyst
in a chemistry world is something that
speeds up a chemistry reaction a
chemical reaction with a catalyst only
needs a little bit of this catalyst to
achieve this this reaction and this
catalyst can be repeatedly used many
many times even after the reaction is
done and the reaction that I want to
talk about today is a reaction that
opens up possibilities help us reach
goals
and enables us to live creatively
the reaction is a creators mindset I can
find a dream job or I can win my parents
approval seven years ago I find myself
talking talking to myself this phrase at
my cubicle at an investment banking job
I had been working for three years after
college after my undergraduate studies
as an economics major
before that I was born and raised in
Hong Kong in a local school in Causeway
Bay and my family is one of the most
traditional Asian families my mom and
dad has worked in the same job for 30
years my sister gone on to become a
doctor and working in an investment bank
although maybe not as prestigious as a
doctor is probably one of the things
that an Asian family like my my own
would approve yet I find myself 11 p.m.
sitting at the cubicle of one of the
buildings in central thinking to myself
gosh I’m living someone’s dream I might
be making good money I might be sitting
in a prestigious building I might be
wearing expensive suits but deep down I
know this is not my passion I wanted
something more and I crave and yearn and
cry out loud in my heart for that I
wanted to create something I wanted to
impact others my own hands and I wanted
to see through reaction in others that I
can work with yet I find myself thinking
I can either find my dream job or
winning over my parents
approval today’s catalyst I want to
share is the choice of choosing and / or
I like to catch myself and catch others
around me when they say I can find a
dream job or I can win over my family’s
approval whenever I hear the word or I
challenge myself to think what if I can
replace it with aunt what if I can do
both what can I do to make possible both
finding a dream job and winning over my
family’s approval I start it started
with a tiny seat in my heart and I
started working on it step by step
7 years from that day today
I cannot say my family is completely
comfortable with me going on an
entrepreneurial path I can certainly say
they’re comfortable they approve of my
choice now to leave a safe job and
pursue something I’m passionate about
the choice of choosing and / or is not
just about career change or is not just
about academic studies this choice
little did I know also open up to
possibilities in my life outside of work
outside a professional career three and
a half years ago I started first
codecademy which today I’m still working
on every day passionately we teach young
kids how to code and more importantly a
creators mindset we believe that through
learning coding a young child as young
as five years old can learn to think
like a creator and I realized by
choosing the word and
is over or is exactly that catalyst that
I needed to embrace that creators
mindset and I believe everybody is
possible to it’s possible for everybody
to make this choice now choosing the
path of being an entrepreneur is not
easy in fact many of many people warned
me before going through that path that
you know being an entrepreneur is one of
the toughest job I would say I cannot
agree more in the past three years maybe
the time the hours the efforts and the
challenges that like every day is thrown
at this job
maybe is probably 10 years make me age
10 years more I remember the first 18
months of starting this company I did
not take any vacations I really saw
friends and most of all I actually
forgot about taking care of myself
I was working every day consumed by
everything that is inside out of my
creation at the same time of course
there’s not a lot of help that could be
found so from taking out the trash to
teaching to talking to parents and
customers and posting on Facebook
everything was on my plates sooo that
early stages of running and stardom I
realized wow my health is really going
downhill I would go to the gym and try
to run 5k and I would feel like dying so
I thought to myself hey they say that as
an entrepreneur you got to give up
something you can either run a business
or you can have a healthy lifestyle
don’t they say you gotta suffer
in order to do something great here I am
catching myself again the word or what
if is not only what if I can replace the
word or with n what if I can run a
business and lead a healthy lifestyle
in fact last year I decided to take this
to a next level I decided that I can run
of business and I’m gonna train for my
first triathlon for those of you who may
not be familiar triathlon is about
swimming biking and running and this is
you’re talking about a person that when
I was in secondary school I could barely
run for nine minutes
I remember in physical education class
my least favourite subject of all I
would be the last person at the corner
and in the basketball court I actually
never haven’t been able to shoot through
that net so talking about this challenge
and talking about challenging and
mindset four months of hard work four
months of seven to 10 hours of week
training last October I completed my
first Olympic distance triathlon in 3
hours 30 minutes nothing maybe the
distance and the time nothing to write
home about but I believe that through
making small steps and through being
aware of our thinking our words that we
talk to ourselves replacing the word or
with and we open up possibilities what
if you can get high scores in your exams
and have fun with your friends at the
same time maybe we can form study
sessions and have a meal grab a meal
before and after study sessions what if
you can backpack across you
and write a business plan at the same
time maybe through traveling abroad you
can inspire yourself to find new
business ideas or validate your ideas
through talking to more people the
possibilities are limitless once we
identify what we’re limiting ourselves a
catalyst speeds up a chemical reaction
through choosing and / or you we
challenge ourselves to think creatively
opens up ourselves to a richer lives
full of new possibilities and at the
same time challenges the assumptions
behind our limited thinking this
catalyst can be used repeatedly as well
you only need to start being aware of it
whenever you talk to yourself he catch
yourself saying or and challenge to
replace this with and only a tiny bit is
needed and when we’re not limiting
ourselves to choosing one over the other
we’re living we’re going after what we
truly wants we’re creative
we’re motivated we’re constantly
expanding our possibilities and we’re
passionate so go ahead and start hearing
start listening around you listening to
yourself
whenever you say the word or challenge
with end and create your possibilities
thank you
[Applause]
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