IME: In My Experience

Is college still worth it?  With college tuition continuously increasing and showing no signs of slowing down, many people have been asking, "Is college still worth it?" I've had this conversation with students in multiple classes, and although they are all college students, the answers were pretty close to split. As a college professor with young children, what do I think?  Just like anything els...

Now that I'm on the other side of the podium and have been teaching for over a year, I've been carefully observing my students. My students come from diverse backgrounds and are typically in their early to mid-twenties. I don't want to be the grumpy old man who says our generation was better and society is going down the drain; however, I believe observing and hopefully making objective observatio...

Welcome back! This is the first episode of many more episodes to come in 2025! My desire to push them has declined since my boys have played "club" basketball for the past couple of seasons. With the weekend tournaments and competitions, I thought my competitive drive would kick in, and I would drive them harder to practice and improve. Instead, I've taken the opposite approach. The primary reason...

Academically, I was a late bloomer; therefore, I was able to experience being a student recently. As a parent, I noticed that we often revert back to the way we were taught because that's the only way we know. One main reason is because many of us finished our educations long before having children. But knowledge, technology, and accessibility has changed drastically over the past decade, forget t...

The concept is simple enough, but you'd be surprised how many people don't have hobbies. Many people have interests and activities that can keep them preoccupied for a couple hours a few times a week, but the ability to keep yourself busy for 12+ hours a day, seven days a week is difficult. For most people, their work defines them; therefore, if you remove the work then they don't know what to do...

Growing up our parents and community taught us and instilled their culture in us. However, as we get older, interact with other people, and start thinking for ourselves, we develop our own unique culture. We may retain certain aspects of our parents' culture we like and find beneficial, but we forge our own path. This is only natural; however, often we don't want to admit it. Therefore, don't be s...

A former sales manager told me that there are no dumb questions. In theory, that makes sense because if you don't know something then you should ask. But in reality with the resources available to us there are dumb questions. The saying there are no dumb questions allows people to not think, consider, or research the question or problem. For example, if you ask someone a question in which they've...

The statement nothing lasts forever sounds very cliche because it is, but that does not mean we don't need to remind ourselves. When things are going well at home and at work, enjoy it but don't forget that this high won't last forever. At the same time, if you're having a difficult time connecting with your children or can't close a deal, it won't last forever. This will teach us to enjoy and che...

We're cautious of what we say because we're worried what other people think of us. Do we sound stupid? Did we get our facts wrong? We don't ask questions because we don't want people to perceive us a certain way. Many of us would rather pretend we understand than ask someone to repeat or explain. Well, people don't really care. Most people are more concerned about their own self perception, just l...

We need to research, analyze, and plan, but sometimes we just need to take the first step. But what if the first step is wrong? You won't know it's wrong unless you take it. Also, even if your goal is climbing Everett, you'll still need that first step. Too often, we get paralysis by analysis, especially in our overly analytical society. Therefore, sometimes we need to take that first step to reco...

We've all heard the phrase practice makes perfect or the updated version, perfect practice makes perfect. Unfortunately, perfection is unrealistic and unachievable because we are humans. Therefore, instead of practicing for perfection, we should practice for mistakes. This means, practice to identify the potential mistakes you can make and learn how to adjust or correct them.

"If you want to master something, teach it." - Richard Feynman "To teach is to learn twice over." - Joseph Joubert If you want to test whether or not you know a subject, or if you want to reinforce what you've learned, then teach it. Teaching a subject or skills will test your knowledge and understanding. Your knowledge will need to be comprehensive and refined in order to explain it to others. Ev...

There are enough stressors in our lives that we don't need to stress ourselves out. By taking ourselves less seriously, we care less about what others say or think. We feel less pressure to always be perfect and accept that we can make mistakes. Plus, my taking ourselves less seriously, we our more open to ideas, suggestions, and criticisms.

Continuing on the communications theme, in this episode I talk about the benefits of small talk. If you're like me, we dislike small talk because it feels unnatural and uncomfortable. But we fail to realize the many benefits of participating in small talk with acquaintances and strangers. Perhaps by understanding the benefits of small talk you'll find yourself engaging in more conversations at the...

We all view the world with our own unique perspectives based on our background, upbringing, education, and experiences. Since no two people see things the same, that means we are all wear individualized rose colored glasses. We need to recognize and understand why our glasses are tinted in those specific colors and with those designs. More importantly, we also need remember that others are also we...

The truth is, we all have accents. The difference is, if our accents is the commonly accepted one in the region or culture, then people don't consider it an accent. But go to another part of the country or world, and you are now speaking with an accent. Unfortunately, not all accents are created equal or treated equal. Even knowing you speak multiple languages, people will judge you based on your...

Go to any event, concert, or activity and the first thing you'll notice is the number of cellphone cameras out. Stop it! Taking pictures and recording the activity is great for memories, but by doing so, you'll miss the emotions created to make this moment into a memory because you're concentrated on the outcome of your shots. Instead, snap a couple of photos before and after, but put your phone d...

Have you ever had an argument over something ridiculously stupid? Do you remember what you were arguing about? From my experiences and observations, many of our stupid arguments are over semantics. They're over our unique definition of words, phrases, emotions, or feelings. "I had a bad day." Means something different to everyone because our definition of bad varies. The reaction to one simple phr...

When most people think communication they think about speaking and presenting; therefore, outgoing people are perceived to be better communicators. However, communication is multilayered and speaking is only one layer. As an introvert, I believe that introverts have a unique perspective of communications because our first reaction is not to speak up. Instead, introverts prefer to observe, listen,...

Last episode I talked about having a bilingual mindset. In this episode, I share experiences and challenges we face trying to raise bilingual kids in America. The environment, teaching methods, and lack of exposure promotes our kids to predominantly speak English. Adding to challenging is the fact that English is quite a bit easier to learn and speak compared to Chinese, our kids will naturally ch...

Put your cell phones away. Turn the TV off. Now just sit at your desk for the next hour. Can you do it? What goes on in your head? What are you thinking about? What do you plan to do? Most of us, thanks to technology, no longer know how to deal with boredom. Unfortunately, being unable to handle boredom also means we lose the benefits. During those few times, you've had to sit and wait with no cel...

As we get older, we get stuck in our ways. We like doing things a certain way or using a particular method. However, our environment, technology, and social norms are continuously changing; therefore, we need to adapt and embrace the changes. It doesn't mean you need to like them or even fully adopt them, but you need to recognize and understand them. Take the NBA for example. Before the Warriors...

In the last episode, I talked about growing up Asian American. A lot of us, especially in Southern California, grew up as the hyphenated American, which means we typically spoke at least another language at home. As we grew up in America, some of us retain our first language and others return it to their parents. Regardless how well you speak a second language, if you grew up in a bilingual househ...

Sometimes, we get stuck in our bubble, and our thoughts and ideas go in circles. At the same time, people around us share similar thoughts and ideas because we typically hang around people like us. Or, you've been in the same industry for years, and the only "new" ideas are recycled. That's when we need to listen to outsiders because they'll bring a unique and different perspective. It's similar t...

Having immigrant parents and living in a predominantly Asian city, the idea of being Asian American did resonate with me until I got older. Growing up Asian American was just growing up. But as an adult and a father, I started to notice and realize the difference in my up bringing, education, and culture compared to the majority. In this podcast, I talk about my discovery, observations, and share...