Photo: Museums Victoria
Let me take you back to when I was eight, where for some reason, my schoolteacher decided that a bunch of Primary Two students needed to learn about the meaning of time.
“It’ll pass by in the blink of an eye,” she said. “Oh stop laughing! You don’t believe me? One day you’ll see.”
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Photo: Alexander Andrews
There are so many hobbies you can get good at in this world, with some of these things being outright outlandish.
Like, who even sets out to become the best ventriloquist in the world? How about dedicating your life to rock climbing? Even becoming a gaming superstar is a thing now.
No matter what niche you look at, there’ll be people who’ve already reached the pinnacle of their craft. People like Jeff Dunham, Alex Honnold, and Lee Sang-hyeok, to name a few.
The thing is though, is that before you become a Jane Austen, or a Tony Hawk, you’ll inevitably face resistance from the people around you. People who cannot comprehend your goals as well as you do.
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Photo: Jules A
I remember my time as a new journalist for a business paper. I remember the events I had to attend, the free lunches I received, the special access that I was afforded.
I remember mingling with the other reporters, giving them a knowing nod as they typed away at their bulky laptops (workplace desktops were still a thing back then).
“Tight deadline, huh?” I’d ask.
I had it easy. My company went to print every week. These guys? They worked for the dailies. “You going to send this in by today?”
“No, by lunch,” my new friend would reply.
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Photo: David Klein
First things first, I never actually knew I could write for a living, so why not start with that.
I grew up in a developing nation, pre-internet, so that meant you either went to university to get a job, or you sucked it up and applied for any vacancy you could that paid more than USD 300 per month.
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Photo: Nihal Demirci
This might be anecdotal, but I do think that the world is changing to accommodate generalists rather than specialists.
I might be biased though. After all, I’d jumped from hairdressing to auditing to writing. And that doesn’t even include my other odd jobs such as being an insurance salesman and a roadie.
All my life, people have told me that I lacked focus, that I’m doing myself a disservice by not hunkering down and focusing on one thing.
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Your Friendly Malaysian Writer 