This was the stunning view from my apartment in Manhattan just a short walk away from Times Square. What an incredible achievement for a schoolboy from SRK Jalan Ipoh in KL, to be able to live in the greatest city in the world from 2015-2017 and for that opportunity I am forever grateful to Boehringer Ingelheim
But I almost did not make it to the US. When my boss approached me for an assignment in the US, I initially declined it. I just bought a house in Germany, a beautiful old house full of character built in the 1850s and have spent a year renovating it according to my very own specifications spending countless weekends looking for industrial antiques furnishings in flea markets. I love my house and did not want to move away from it.
To cut a long story short, in the end I did decide to move to the US office and had an amazing 2 years there working with the team in the US, living in New York and also exploring the vast country of Unites States of America.
I’m sharing this because Eric Sim also shared his story about Great Opportunities Come At Inconvenient Times (Chapter 5) in his brilliant book Small Actions. Essentially the message is to seize great opportunities when they arise instead of making excuses to turn them down just because of some inconveniences. Just do it!
If I had turn my boss down, I wouldn’t have been living in an apartment in the heart of New York City.
