5 Ciri Gen-Y dengan Adversity Quotient (AQ) Tinggi

Telah dibuktikan bahwa ada 3 hal yang menjadi prediktor global untuk kesuksesan seseorang, yaitu IQ (inteligensia), EQ (keterampilan emosional), dan AQ (resiliensi terhadap tantangan).

Adversity Quotient (AQ) adalah penilaian ilmiah yang mengukur resiliensi seseorang, daya tahan seseorang saat menghadapi tekanan atau kesulitan. Seseorang dengan AQ yang tinggi memiliki kemampuan, keterampilan dan mindset yang positif untuk menghadapi bahkan keluar dari situasi tersebut. Lebih jauh dari itu, dia menyambut tantangan dengan sikap yang positif. Sebaliknya, seseorang dengan AQ yang rendah cenderung memiliki kesulitan dan putus asa dalam mengatasi masalah, dan menjauhi tantangan.

Gen Y (Millenial) pun sama, ada yang memiliki AQ tinggi, dan ada yang lebih rendah. Tantangan kita sebagai Leaders adalah untuk memastikan SDM Gen-Y kita mempunyai resiliensi yang tinggi atau bisa meningkat, agar boosting performa bisnis.

 

Berikut adalah 5 ciri Millenial dengan AQ yang tinggi dalam Pekerjaan:

1. Mindset positif. Merespon sesuatu dengan perspektif yang positif, antusias dan optimistis, bukan negatif. Milenial ini cenderung proaktif, tidak reaktif terhadap situasi atau masalah.
2. Berani keluar dari zona nyaman. Orang ini bertipe suka menjemput tantangan. Merespon situasi yang tidak nyaman dengan tenang dan cara pandang yang positif. Tidak suka dengan status quo, sehingga selalu ingin berkembang, ingin mencapai hasil yang lebih baik. Faktor motivasi diri dan disipilin diri tinggi, sehingga membutuhkan faktor eksternal yang relatif rendah.
3. Tidak takut hadapi perubahan. Perubahan adalah hal yang wajar. Milenial dengan AQ tinggi akan agile dalam mengatasi situasi yang tidak menentu, akan memimpin Tim-nya dengan efektif untuk melalui perubahan bersama-sama.
4. Kegagalan adalah kesempatan belajar. Milenial ber-AQ tinggi menganggap kegagalan bukan akhir dari segalanya, malah merupakan kesempatan untuk belajar dan mengembangkan diri. Individu ini tidak mudah menyerah saat dalam masalah, atau menghadapi penolakan. Hasil adalah penting, namun proses juga memiliki peran yang sama pentingnya.
5. Bukan complainer atau blamer. Milenial yang memiliki AQ tinggi memiliki  akuntabilitas dan rasa tanggung jawab terhadap pekerjaan, tidak suka mengeluh atau menyalahkan orang lain saat dalam menghadapi tekanan atau masalah.

Semoga artikel ini dapat membantu mengidentifikasi dan memicu resiliensi tim Millenial Anda.

Hubungi Outward Bound Indonesia (email: info@outwardboundindo.org atau ph: 021-548-1529) untuk dapat info lebih lanjut tentang AQ dan program Training untuk mengembangkannya.

Women & Leadership: Nature, Nurture or Neither?

I read somewhere that there is a set of distinct traits that students of girls schools share, that girls from their coeducational counterparts otherwise wouldn’t, among which are high self-confidence (the article may even have said overconfidence), and the camaraderie.

Having graduated from one myself, I’d undoubtedly vouch for those claims. My formative and pubescent years of middle school and high school were spent in one of the most reputable school systems in Indonesia called St. Ursula. Set in the same compound as Jakarta Cathedral, the 200 year old colonial-style campus exuded the same fortitude as the quality of education delivered.

Our headmistress, a Dutch educated Catholic nun, was a traditionalist but visionary, powerful but gentle, modest but brilliant and whose motto “think” was uncompromising. She wouldn’t accept mediocrity, her method pushed you to keep trying new things until you could accomplish your goals, she believed that intelligence was important but it wasn’t everything, that being a well-rounded individual was more essential than being smart, she taught you to be involved as active members of society and not as spectators. Moreover she was also “killer”. She was an authority figure you wouldn’t want to have a run-in with, as she would let you and everybody know that you did something wrong. But on the same token, getting schooled by her was a rite of passage, a privilege and to an extent, a bragging right that could be told for years. True to this last point, I for one, can proudly say survived the latter. To this day, she is still loved, hated, admired and idolized as an educator, by the throngs.

A rather interesting observation many people share though is not only about her, but about the alumni, that there is a certain mold that St Ursula graduates seem to fit into. Mixed in the professional world, you could pinpoint an Ursula alum from the crowd like a sore thumb. The public opinion seems to be that the women are typically natural leaders, driven, opinionated, confident, vocal, thoughtful, independent and generally successful.

 

Over the last 20 years, research has shown that girls think, interact, display leadership, and make decisions differently than boys. Studies shows that with fewer gender distractions, girls learn to be more competitive, accept leadership roles, and spend more time on schoolwork and personal interests. Studies point to educational disparities between the sexes, and found that, in mixed schools, girls routinely are called upon less, receive less feedback, and display lower self-esteem than boys. Furthermore, according to Forbes, in the business world, women currently hold only 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEO positions and the same percentage of Fortune 1000 CEO positions. In 2014, women working full time in the United States typically were paid just 79 percent of what men were paid, a gap of 21 percent.

These statements pose a degree of curiosity for me. Does leadership come naturally for women, or does it require a sequestered condition of nurturing and grooming that is different from men? Moreover, are both properties above combined, plus a favorable opportunity, the chance women need to gain a leadership position? I attended a women leadership forum where top female executives of major Indonesian and international corporations spoke. In one occasion the speakers agreed that women must speak up and dare to ask the bold questions in order to break the glass ceilings and climb the corporate ladders. This then begs the question if leadership is granted to women, or do we have the same fair chance as men to earn it? My final thought, Do women with comparable traits, competencies, skills, knowledge, drive, passion as the men counterpart, when compared to or are competing with them stand equal chance? Or rather, in this day and age, should this type of question not even be asked anymore?

My next Talk, What’s next for HR in 2016

Upcoming event for fellow HR practitioners. What’s next for HR in 2016?
I’ll be talking about AQ (Adversity Quotient), and why it is essential to improve it for the future Gen Y leaders.
The event is on Thursday, 3 Mar 2016 in Jakarta.

2016 Resolution: Stop Making Excuses for Yourself!

“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else” – Benjamin Franklin

This particular show called “My 600-lb Life” caught my attention recently. The premise of the programme is to tell a story about people who suffer from obesity, about their past, about how and when they started becoming overweight, about their current life situation dealing with it, and about how eventually they go through a gastric bypass surgery to help catalyze weight loss and the follow up. As expected, people who are obese are essentially immobile, needing a caretaker to tend to their every need, have poor health, and lead an imbalanced lifestyle.

A woman weighing 690 lbs went through a bypass surgery and after six months only managed to lose less than 100 lbs from the possible 300 lbs. They showed that she refused all kinds of instructions and recommendations given to her such as diet, exercise, physical therapy, and a generally active lifestyle. She had all the excuses in the world for why she wouldn’t follow them, to a point where even the doctor finally resigned from her case.

A simple tip for goal setting that I’d like to share are the “3 D’s”. The first “D” of goal setting is “Desire” to achieve it, that is, asking yourself ‘how much do I want this?’. If you don’t get excited about the goal, then maybe it’s not something you really want to pursue in the first place. Pick something that makes your heart race just thinking about it, and you’ll be more likely to complete it.

The other 2 D’s are “Determination” and “Discipline,” that is how much you are willing to work for the goals despite the roadblocks. Anyone can set a goal easily. The overweight woman may appear resolute to lose weight in the beginning, but she wasn’t willing to work towards her goals and that is the reason for her failure. The ultimate test of goal setting or goal achieving is in the process, when we have to put in the time, energy, effort and sacrifice.

We don’t not do things because we can’t, but because we won’t. The question we need to ask ourselves about our goal is, ‘Will I work for my goals, or will I make excuses for why I won’t?’ Additionally, a smart thing to do is to identify the potential roadblocks before the journey even starts and the sacrifices we would need to make regularly or constantly in order to reach these goals. This way, we can brace ourselves and prepare for those challenges beforehand, rather than being caught off guard and underestimating these challenges.

I hope the “3 D’s” formula can help you understand the right mindset for effective goal setting and goal accomplishing. It’s got to be something meaningful that will move you. However, in order to reap the rewards, it’s guaranteed to be nothing short of hard work.

So my 2016 wish to you is for a prosperous year ahead filled with happiness, health and laughter.

This article has been published on Now! Jakarta magazine January 2016 issue.

5 Common Mistakes People Make in Team Building Trainings

In my profession as a Coach in the People Development business, I see mistakes that HR Managers, Directors, even CEOs make in confusing team building trainings as a cost versus an investment for the company. In an economic sense, investment is the purchase of goods that are not consumed today, but are used in the future to create wealth.

Cost is the price paid to acquire something. Training is an investment because people are assets, not commodities. To emphasize the phrase ‘used in the future to create wealth’ to describe investment, as leaders we believe that our employees and team members will generate wealth for the organization, therefore we invest in them by developing them. One of the frequent arguments against investing in professional development is “What happens if I train my people and they leave?” A better question is “What happens if you don’t train them and they stay?”

Benefits of Team Development Trainings

An effective team building training will be able to help your organization reach new heights by building trust among the members, improving communication and collaboration, boosting their morale and essentially increasing productivity and performance. What does all this mean for the bottom line of a company? According to studies, employees with high morale are 89% more likely to put in extra effort and extra hours at work.

So in order for your company to get the most ROI from a team building training, I’d like to share the 5 most common mistakes people make that you need to avoid:

1. Being Unclear about your Goals

   You must be clear about what you want to attain from the training, and how you wish your training partner to help you reach your goals. Do you just want your employees to have a shared experience, or do you actually want them to learn about each other and to synergize together? By setting a clear goal, it’ll help you to consider the right approach as well as partner for your endeavors (see #2 below)

    

2. Picking the Wrong Partner to Develop your Team

   Next to #1, this is the second most important element to having a successful team building training. The right training partner can diagnose what your team needs, has the right software and hardware to deliver the programme, has the experience and credentials, and most critically understands how important this investment is for you.
   

3. Thinking Team Building must be Fun
   

   Too many people mistake team building as some kind of a paid vacation that’s injected with some amount of learning, sponsored by the company. The point of learning is stretching our old thinking into new philosophies, and this process to some degree requires leaving our comfort zone – and for some, this is no walk in the park. So if you’re thinking of investing money on fun in the name of training, you’d better think again.

4. Thinking Team Building Training is to Play Games
   

   The most effective method to develop a team is through a shared experience, scientifically known as experiential learning training. You and other team members are outside of a classic 4-wall classroom, are given a series of problem-solving tasks and simulations to be solved together. But there is more than meets the eye. The activities or simulations are only one part of the equation. An effective experiential learning training is one that delivers both the experience and the learning equally well. It should provide a meaningful experience; facilitate impactful reflections to draw insights behind the activities and relate them back to real-life situations.

5. Thinking Team Building is a Quick Fix

   Rome was not built in one day, and neither are teams. Studies show that people need 21 consecutive days to form a new habit, hence repetition is key. A good team building training is able to offer solutions for your teamwork issues that give a long-term impact. They say, a quick fix is a short-term fix. So if you want a strong team that’s permanent, you have to be willing to put in the time and the work.

We all desire a team that works like a well-oiled machine and yields high productivity. Sometimes we’ve got it, sometimes we haven’t got it yet. One thing is for sure, wherever we are in that spectrum, a well-coordinated and engaged team doesn’t just happen automatically. We call it teamwork because the whole team has to put in the work. You may contract a training partner to help develop your people, but building your teams is not their full-time job, it’s yours. My wish in your endeavor for wealth in your organization, is that you are investing in your people correctly and wisely.

This article has published on Now! Jakarta magazine

Forgive me Dear for I Have Sinned

I used to look down on the old cliché, “your wedding day is the best day of your life”.  I just didn’t buy it; I suppose I’ve always been a realist rather than a romantic.

My suspicions heightened in the lead up to my own wedding day with both myself and my fiancé engulfed in the usual stresses of work, but also the additional pressures of wedding planning, to the point where we became each other’s own worst enemies. This cloud of animosity loomed in my mind until I actually had qualms and doubts about the big day. Fortunately, with the support and advice of caring people around me – my fiancé included – I was able to find peace again, faith was restored and it saved me. My husband Jake and I tied the knot last month, and it was the greatest decision I’ve made yet!

One of the best pieces of marital advice we received was from the publisher of this magazine, Alistair Speirs, who attended our wedding with his lovely wife of 26 years, Barbara. He kindly shared with us the key to a long lasting and happy marriage – forgiveness. We have all heard it before, but have we truly experienced its power?

Honestly, I couldn’t say I had until very recently. The state of the relationship that I was in with my then fiancé had been a wake up call and forced me to face the truth that happiness was my choice and my responsibility, not somebody else’s. I can proudly say that the first step I took for the good of my marriage was to forgive my partner for his past wrongdoings, whether he did them intentionally or not. This decision has set me free of grudges, made me happier and able to see him in a much more positive light, and in effect improved the dynamics between us.

What has forgiveness got to do with happiness? 

My new definition of the word “forgive” is a state of mind where we voluntarily make a decision to let go of negative emotions caused by wrongdoings done by someone in the past. Allow me to dissect this definition.

A “State of Mind”

Forgiveness is not based on others’ actions but on our own attitude. We forgive not because somebody asked for it, not even the offender, but because we’re no longer allowing the hurt, disappointment, vengefulness, resentment and other negative emotions to occupy our mind. Forgiveness doesn’t mean being weak. It does not mean letting the offender off the hook. We can and should still hold others accountable for their actions or lack of actions.

A “Voluntary Decision”

In light of inter-personal relationships, forgiveness is a peaceful mental condition toward our offender that can potentially lead to reconciliation. Forgiving is not saying, “What you did was okay, so go ahead and walk all over me”. Nor is it playing the martyr, enjoying the performance of forgiving people because it perpetuates our victim role. Forgiveness is something deep and personal, it could be a one-way street without the offender ever knowing or respecting your decision. Getting another person to change his or her actions, behaviour or words isn’t the point of forgiveness. Think of forgiveness more about how it can change our lives — by bringing us peace, happiness, and emotional and spiritual healing. Forgiveness can take away the power the other person continues to wield in our life.

“Wrongdoings”

People make mistakes, it’s part of human nature. After we forgive, the offender might still repeat their offenses. Should we forgive again? Yes, why not!?  Forgiveness is a process not an event, it’s a commitment not an obligation, and it might take time to get used to it, to heal and truly feel the benefits. But don’t mistake forgiveness for reconciliation. We can forgive someone even if we can never get along with them the same as before.

When we forgive, we remove our grudges and negative emotions against that person, we do it for our own peace and not their glory. Forgiveness can potentially change everything about our relationship with others because of what it can do for us. I hope this article is able to shed some positive light on forgiveness and how it can help in our journey towards happiness.

Is Playtime for Kids A Dying Tradition?

My eight-year-old nephew is the poster child of generation Z: a bright, sophisticated kid who is globally, technologically and visually oriented. He and I had recently played a strategy board game which he very much took an interest in. Last week he requested that we play it again. He was sad that I didn’t have the board game in my possession at the time. Consequently, I went on an “activity” quest to entertain the boy and decided hangman to be the simplest and most effective.

The other day, I was reading an article about why kids of the ‘80s are tougher than kids today. Kids were allowed to play and explore without a constant watchful eye. Helmets, knee-pads and wrist guards were not a thing. Casts were badges of honour for kids. And parents didn’t feel shameful or neglectful when their kids broke bones.

The backseat of a car was a playground where you could sit whichever way. The article depicts how playtime back in the day involved more risks and essentially, no activities were off-limits for kids. Additionally, playing alone was almost never an option.

Being an ‘80s kid myself, as I read the list, I couldn’t help but smile and nod. As a five-year-old, together with my older siblings, we would put together stories and make drawings on index cards to play as puppets. We would build a stage on our bed, using pillows and a blanket hung by a string tied to a door and a hook on the wall. Between the three of us, we took turns as actors; voice-overs and puppeteering were tasks divided three-way. We improvised the whole production with no prompting, direction or supervision from an adult, nor any audience.

_____

Similarly, shooting hoops with all the neighborhood kids in the afternoon and exploring jalan tikus on a bike with my cousins seemed second nature and, in fact, were something we looked forward to every day.

_____

We couldn’t wait to go out to play with our friends at every chance we had. We called this fun. We called this playtime. Play meant interacting with other kids. It meant being engaged in some sort of physical activities. It meant capitalizing on the (lack of) resources; i.e. the toys we had. It meant creating and exploring new things or places. It meant expanding our imagination. The question is, were those things merely fun and games?

I suspect the Baby Boomers and Generation Xers would strongly argue that they had something to do with building character, with developing skills—resourcefulness, problem-solving and enterprise thinking, with courage and with exercising a person’s mental physique. I tend to advocate this notion.

Is the ‘80s childhood experience becoming rare for kids these days? Has the greater playground been replaced and limited to the confines of a children’s area in a shopping mall? Has the limited repertoire of entertainment been upgraded by the all-purpose devices? Have the natural impulses to play and be active been diminished into a scheduled time for exercise? Would it be an old-school stance to presume that, despite the modernisation and advancements that have provided us with easier lives, there’s a lot to be said about the rusticity and primitiveness of one’s childhood?

This article has been published by Now! Jakarta magazine

Romance VS the Four Letter Word

When one catalogs the greatest love stories of all time, they may probably list the likes of Gone with the Wind, Romeo and Juliet, Ghost or The Notebook. It makes one wonder why these sagas can enchant throngs of audiences. My hypothesis would be described by these nouns ‘romance, passion, eternal love, fantasy, allure’. The on-screen pair of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara are embodiments of heart melting, awww-inducing, cheek blushing attributes, all of which many of us search in the off-screen life.

I’ve realized that these scenarios and characters are fictional for a reason, mainly showcasing the courting phase of a relationship where infatuation is the plot. Real life relationships are not a melodrama, but are the behind-the-scenes actual labor to create the “fairy tale” that you would like it to be.

My parents just celebrated their 40^th wedding anniversary last year in August. For reaching that milestone alone, they’ve become one of my model couples.  Do they ever argue? Do they ever have disagreements? Do they ever dislike each other? Yes, they do all these things, because they’re human. But my parents always seem to find a way to resolve, forgive, move forward and repeat. The two things that my mom advises me about relationships is, to demonstrate patience, and kindness, despite the circumstances, they will always prevail.

This article is dedicated to my partner whom I’ve recently become engaged to, and who has shown me that a relationship is no romantic comedy, but rather an amalgamation of the arduous, painstaking, fun, fulfilling labor of love that makes two people be better and happier together.

Freddy Mercury gave the other side of truth about the four letter word, “Love don’t give no compensation, love don’t pay no bills. Love don’t give no indication, love just won’t stand still. Love won’t take no reservations, love is no square deal.” (from the song Love Kills)

This article has been published on Now! Jakarta magazine

Three Reasons NOT to Make a New Year’s Resolution

Ahhh, it’s that time of the year, New Year, where spirits are high, motivation is up, dreams are abundant and hopes are plentiful! One of the most universal and wonderful habits during this period is making a resolution. Why wouldn’t one want to take advantage of the occasion and start a new leaf with new aspirations and new promises? It all sounds fantastic and makes you all tingly inside, doesn’t it?

Here’s the hard truth though, according to a research from the University of Scranton, only eight per cent of people actually achieve their New Year’s goals. Eight percent! In other words, 92 out of 100 people fail to reach their dreams. Are you among this bunch who gave up on your dreams? Well, that sounds a bit harsh!

Alright, let’s rephrase the question. Do you remember what goals you set last year? What was it or what were they? How did you do? Did you achieve it? If not, how close did you get to achieving those goals? Are you satisfied with your accomplishments? My guess is some of you may not remember your resolutions, many of you didn’t follow through with them and may be thinking “another year, another resolution…down the drain!”.

Many people get impulsive in setting new goals, especially in the New Year. Unfortunately many can’t even track down how close they were in reaching them throughout the year. So why do we bother making them in the first place! I’ll share with you three reasons why we should NOT make a new year’s resolution:

1. If we can’t break down our goals into digestible and do-able tactics and strategies, then we really shouldn’t make one at all.

When we say “I want to lose 15 kgs in one year”, do we really know how to achieve that? Does it make us feel challenged or lost? A goal is supposed to make us feel a little uncomfortable inside, but just as importantly, it’s supposed to make us feel like we CAN achieve it! What good does it do if we already feel defeated before the battle even started? Compare to “I want to lose 15 kgs in one year, which equals to 1.25 kgs per month”. Doesn’t that goal sound more attainable and enticing? When you’re setting a goal, break it down to smaller-scaled tactics.

2. If you can’t hold yourself accountable for your resolutions, give them up!

Commitment is a promise you keep because you feel accountable for it. When making a resolution, we are painting a dream that requires a commitment in order to achieve it. The irony of a commitment is that most people can keep promises to other people more than they can to themselves.

If this is the case, maybe it’ll be worth your while to make a resolution as a promise to somebody else. You can ask a friend, or a family member, or a mentor to help you. A couple of weeks ago, my girlfriends and I shared our 2015 resolutions in front of each other; one person took note and afterwards shared the list of goals to the group.

When I read the minutes, truthfully it made me feel a bit anxious about letting down the group by not keeping my promise. Hence, I suppose it’s a good thing that other people heard my resolutions and can come back and check on my progress or commitment from time to time.

3. If you can’t envision the impact and true benefits of your goals, then why make them?

How is your goal going to affect your life? How is it going to make you feel? If you can’t say that your resolutions will make your life or other people’s lives better, more meaningful and enriched, and you a happier person, then you might want to consider redefining your resolution. It’s not that I don’t endorse shallow goals, but if we can’t feel in our gut how our goals will truly make us happy, then we won’t really put our heart into our efforts; and consequently if we don’t end up reaching them then we can resort to feeling like we haven’t lost anything anyway! For example, let’s say your goal is to go on an Alaskan cruise because you’ve never been on a cruise ship and one of your dreams is to see the glaciers.

Try redefining that goal into a feeling of happiness, joy and pride. And try to envision how the trip will enrich your life by way of seeing a different part of the world, seeing the wonders of nature and meeting people from all over. If you can visualise the true positive impacts your goal will bring to your life, then you will more likely strive to achieve it, because by not attaining it, you will not have only failed to reach a goal, but more importantly you have lost part of your happiness.

This article has been published in Now! Jakarta magazine

WHY WE MUST DO THE VERY THING THAT SCARES US

agaI was in the paradise island of Bali recently. I did almost everything to feel completely relaxed, until the very moment when the idea of going snorkeling came to surface. It haunted me like a ghost, put me on edge, and made me feel the antithesis of relaxation. The primary reason being this unexplainable fear of open sea. I think it’s the vast body of water and we, human are just a minute spec in that respect, or watching movies like Jaws where wild animals jump out of nowhere and can hurt you – like I say, I can’t really explain it.  I had tried to evade the trip but alas the odds worked against me, and before you know it, the mask and snorkel were strapped on my face, and I was fitting the fins on my feet. I’m finally on the boat, the boatman has stopped the engine and dropped the anchor. I’m standing at the edge of the boat just waiting to jump, my partner and boatman encouraging me to do it, while the entire time I’m thinking “This is it, this is the moment of truth. Either I’ll sink and that’s very well going to put a damp on the vacation, or I’ll go on swimming and enjoy the underwater beauty.” I’m not sure what came over me, but I managed to muster all my courage and made the decision to jump. I jumped, I couldn’t believe it! Frankly speaking, the first 5 minutes which felt like eternity, were hell on earth. I couldn’t calm down, my body was tense and obviously I didn’t relish the experience. Thankfully, with the help of my partner, I was able to loosen up, and the rest is history. It was one of the worst and best experiences I’ve had yet. I realize that whenever we attempt something new, we will feel a bit of both, good and bad. The bad stems from the feeling of awkwardness and distress from us learning to adapt to it. And the good originates from the feeling of prideful and elation that we’ve conquered the very thing we were afraid of. I’m happy to report that I am now searching for another snorkeling destination in the near future.

Sometimes we have to force courage to emerge. When we come face to face with something that we fear or hate, we only have 2 choices, either we face it or we run away from it. I’m a firm believer that we won’t really know our true potential until we do the very thing that scares us. In business, we need to make decisions and take risks every day, whether it’s within our company or outside. When we hire a new employee, we are taking a chance with this individual, in the hope that they will perform as expected. In our daily lives, we do them too. When we buy a new brand at the store, we are taking a risk, in the hope that the product will serve the purpose we intended it to. When we try something new or do something that terrifies us, we are taking a leap of faith, testing our courage, and using our potential – in the hope that courage and potential won’t fail us. And while we’re leaping, trust that the uneasy feeling we feel deep in our gut is what is supposed to happen as part of the process.

So in closing the year 2014, my wish to you all is that this year has been fulfilling, and 2015 will bring an abundance of happiness and prosperity, new adventures and experiences.

This article has been published by Now!Jakarta magazine