Journey on!

It's been slightly more than 2.5 months since I left my corporate life but it felt like forever, given the immense amount of time I have on my hand. It was an interesting journey and at times, rather challenging - emotionally, and psychologically. Admittedly, the financials has not fully hit as I had continued to leverage the remainings of my last drawn salary and my heightened consciousness to be careful with my spendings. Regardless, I expect this to hit me soon (sweat!). All these changes impact not just me but also the people around me. I am sure these transitional pains will go off once things stabilise with time. 

For now, here're what I have done during this period:

• I had gone for 2 vacations - China and Taipei. For the former, I visited Guangzhou, Chengdu, Jiuzaigou, Xi'an and Beijing over a 14-day period. As per my previous trips to China, there were just so many things to see and do. One thing about China is that they advance really fast! It was less than 2-decades since my last visit and the improvements to the infrastructure, quality of life, etc is mind-boggling! The second visit was to Taipei. It was a short 3-day visit during the Chinese New Year. Despite the short duration, it was certainly a good break - temperature, vibes, experiences and all.

• I had started my journey to be a qualified coach. Had subscribed to a coaching course and have thus far completed 2 of the 3 modules. The last module will be the longest and most challenging of the 3 given the extra requirements to submit coaching recordings, attend mentoring sessions, amongst others. But I will wait till May this year before I register for this last module as the government fundings for self-development will only be available from May onwards. Otherwise I will have to pay a substantial amount of money for it. 

• I did a lot of coaching. I need to clock minimally 100 hours as part of my accreditation requirement. Hope to be able to complete this process by the end of the year, or, earlier if possible. Since starting the process last last month, I have achieved 15hrs out of the 100hrs needed. I think it is quite decent. But my clients were largely friends and ex-colleagues. It is not sustainable and I need to expand my client base. I was told that the starting is the most challenging but the numbers of clients will come in from referrals if my coachees find me effective.

• I did a lot of networking. The initial intent was to maintain contact and keep the relationship warm with my ex-colleagues. But over time, the intent also shifted to include expanding my coaching clientele base. The process was most humbling. I experimented with the different approaches - by asking them to let me coach them, to asking people to help me, to... I was not successful many a time. On the whole, this process to seek help forced me to leave my comfort zone and learn how to better market myself. It also allowed me to renew connections. And that is a good thing. 

• I had initiated the process of starting a company. I did this after doing some research online - that individuals need to register a company in order to do business/ provide services to companies on a regular basis.  The process will take perhaps a month, depending on the document verification process. Let's hope it goes through smoothly.

Those were some of the key developments over the last 2.5 months. Admittedly, there were periods where I felt life was going too slow and doubted if I had made the right decision in leaving corporate life. The lack of pay didn't help, to be very honest. Nonetheless, I have tried to maintain as much normalcy in my life as possible (e.g go on trips). And during moments of doubts, I had to frequently remind myself of my longer term aims. It motivated me and helped me move along. So...

Journey on Jeffrey... Jiayou!